


The Callgirl

by AvatarAang7



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/F, More warnings inside, Scissoring, Smut, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-15
Updated: 2017-08-02
Packaged: 2018-04-26 12:08:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 69,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5004250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvatarAang7/pseuds/AvatarAang7
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Asami is going to the Southern Water Tribe on a business trip, but is completely caught off-guard by how perpetuously cold it is. Her ultimate solution? Get a callgirl to keep her warm throughout the night. Korrasami, includes smut.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Southern Water Tribe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to The Callgirl everyone, here's hoping you enjoy it. I'm putting up this warning in advance, as there will be more to this story than just smut (you already knew that, after all, it's not called The Nun). There will be backstories, and they will be dark. I don't wish to spoil them, so I'll refrain from naming them in the tags, but be warned, it won't be pretty.

* * *

**Wednesday evening**

* * *

_This was a bad fucking idea._

Asami was nervously pacing up and down her hotel room.  _What the fuck were you thinking? Were you even thinking at all?_  Not that it mattered so much, the damage had already been done.  _Right, as soon as she gets here, you are going to tell her to go home. That's it. That's the best way to handle this mess you have gotten yourself in._

Someone knocked on the door a couple of times, and Asami was yanked back into reality.

_Fuck._

* * *

**Three days earlier, Monday evening**

* * *

The plane circled the airport a few times, as they had to wait to land. Waiting was not really Asami's style, but at least it gave her a good opportunity to take a close look at Ushuaia, the capital of the Southern Water Tribe. There was the lighthouse on an artificial island, which was quite an accomplishment, in her not-so-humble engineering opinion. Ushuaia was bigger than she had expected, but then again, she didn't really know what to expect. She had been forced to go here by her board of directors, because otherwise, no way in hell would she be here. Asami hated the cold. She was used to the warm, temperate climate of Republic City, and she already thought the winters there could get quite cold.

But when she looked out the window here, her hopes didn't exactly skyrocket. Behind the city lay a tall mountain range, and every building in the city had snow on it. And it wasn't like a nice, crisp, thin white layer, no, it was three fucking feet at minimum.

"Miss Sato, we're about to get clearance from the tower," the pilot called out from the cockpit. "There are only two planes left in the queue in front of us, so if you still want to get changed, I recommend you do that now. It's minus 18 degrees Celsius on the ground, or quite brisk as we call it here in the south." She leaned out from her seat, and saw him just high-fiving the co-pilot. The pilot was from the south, the co-pilot from the north.  _Well goodie, he is **so**  fired._

 _Why did they have to force me to come down here in winter? Bastards._  Asami sighed and got up, walking towards the back to put on her pair of thermo-pants that she had bought for this trip. Even though she knew there would be a car waiting for her on the ground, it was still going to be unpleasant. She was planning to be down here for two weeks, signing contracts, making sure that once the winter was over, Future Industries would jump right on top of things in the Southern Water Tribe.

It would mean good contracts for the company, but also that Asami would be pretty much the last one to fly out of the Southern Water Tribe that year. Winter here meant permanent darkness, not to mention lots and lots of snow.

"We are go for touchdown, so please fasten your seatbelts, it promises to be bad."

Asami got back in her seat, doing as the pilot instructed her. Once they were on the ground, had rolled into the hangar, and the business woman had put on every conceivable article of clothing there was, the door opened and the stairs folded out.

_Holy._

_Fucking._

_Shit._

Minus 18 sounded cold on paper, but it was cold as hell for Asami. She was wearing said thermo-pants under her thick legging, a woolen skirt, duck-down feathered trench coat, isolated snow boots, extra thick gloves, fox-fur scarf, (shame for the animal, but at least her neck would be warm. Or so she thought.) and warm woolen hat, yet it was  _freezing cold_. And she would have to spend two weeks here?!  _This is not fair. I am going to have a **very**  long discussion with my board when I get back._

Once the engines started to die down, a woman came walking up to her. She was warmly dressed, sure, but it would be how Asami would go out on a cold winter's day in Republic City, minus five at most. "Miss Sato, welcome to Ushuaia! I am Zhu Li Moon, Mr. Varrick sent me to take you to your hotel!" she yelled over the dying roar of the engines.

"Most kind of him, and nice to meet you. Do you have a car around here? It is... quite brisk, as my pilot put it."

Zhu Li smiled. "Yes, it's right over there." She pointed to the corner of the hangar, where Asami saw parked, in order, a Rolls-Royce Phantom, a Bentley Mulsanne, a Maybach 62, an Audi Q7, and a battered old Toyota Land Cruiser. "Put the bags in the Land Cruiser," Zhu Li told the pilots, who came around with Asami's luggage.

"The Land Cruiser?" the business woman asked, not expecting to be transported in a car of which the percentage of rust covering the bodywork could be counted in the double digits.  _Varrick might want to rethink his strategies if he wants to impress his business partners._

"Yes, the Land Cruiser," was Zhu Li's simple answer. "The rest of the cars might be more comfortable on paper, but we had five foot of fresh snow this morning, and the roads are pretty much impassable for anything that doesn't have off-road tires. The crew spent all morning sweeping the runway, and the planes are now finally able to land. Why do you think there was such a long queue to land your plane?"

Asami sighed.  _Typical._  "Alright then, I guess I will follow your lead."

Zhu Li walked all of them over to the jeep, where they all got in, the southerner getting behind the wheel. By the time they had left the airport, Asami was already glad they had taken the Land Cruiser, because Zhu Li wasn't kidding when she said "five feet of snow." There were massive snowbanks on either side of the road, and even with their high-profile tires, four wheel drive, and low range gearbox, the going was slow.

Fortunately, things got better when they got to the city proper. It was slightly warmer there, and the roads were actually drivable again, which was nice. They soon arrived at the Plaza Hotel, where the company had booked her the biggest suite there was.

"Right, here we are Miss Sato," Zhu Li said. "I will pick you up again tomorrow morning and take you to your meeting with Varrick. Does that sound good?"

"That sounds fine. See you tomorrow." Asami nodded, and while the hotel staff took care of her luggage, she checked in. Once she had, she went up to her room, deciding she would try and rid herself of her jetlag by catching an early night sleep.

* * *

**Tuesday**

* * *

Even though it hadn't come easy, Asami managed to sleep through the night. First of all, it was cold. She was cold when she went to bed, she was cold when she was in bed, and she was cold when she came out of bed again.  _Promising._

The Sato woman took her time preparing herself, making sure she would make a lasting impression on Varrick. He was the one who invited her here. She had decided to use her thermos-pants again, only this time she would cover them with more pants instead of a legging. If fit better over her outdoor boots, which weren't the prettiest shoes in the world, but who cares. Another two feet of snow had fallen that night, and if she could trust the weather bimbo, it wasn't going to let up any time soon.

She had heard the rumors about Varrick, that he was brash-but-brilliant, a true eccentric billionaire. As it turned out, the rumors were  _far_  understated. He had no idea about conventional business, and within two hours, she had managed to secure the shipping contract her board had been banging on about for weeks.

'That is the key part,' they said. 'It must be done right,' they said. 'It won't be easy, he'll drive a hard bargain,' they said. Turns out, it was the easiest multi-million yuan deal Asami had ever made. Her board had prepared a contract, and Varrick hardly took any persuading before he signed it.

But this also left Asami with a problem: namely what to do. It was still fucking freezing, and her day had hardly even started. She managed to stretch the meeting long enough to grab some lunch with Varrick, but then he was off to do other things, leaving Asami alone.

She spent her afternoon in her suite, pretending to do some work, but in reality, she was bored out of her mind, and tomorrow was promising to be worse. The Sato could hardly leave her room without freezing her fingers off, let alone her hotel. Asami ate dinner there, and tried to get another night of sleep, but this time around, didn't have the jetlag to help her sleep. Try as she might, sleep was not coming to her tonight.

It wasn't really meant to be.

Even though her room had of course been pre-heated, Asami was still cold. There was just a feeling in the room that made Asami feel uncomfortable. It was probably that she was alone, now more than ever. She had been on her own for years, but she was never truly alone. But here? She was on the far side of the planet, where the only people she dealt with were businesspartners. She didn't know anyone, didn't have anything to do, and so far, was stuck in this room.

She was so sick and tired of being cold all the time, even under the blankets and pelts with the heater turned up. But if she was being totally honest, she was just sick of a lack of other people to have contact with. Deciding something needed to be done about that, she got herself dressed again, and ventured down to the bar.

Asami ordered herself a double scotch (no ice, she was cold enough as is) and sat down next to the fireplace, flicking through her phone, looking to see if anything interesting happened back home. This was a bit better, because between the fire at her side and the alcohol coursing through her, at least she wasn't freezing her toes off.  _It's the little things that count._  Despite not being cold anymore, she was still bored to death. Whenever she didn't know what to do, she checked the news, but by now, had resorted to reading the celebrity gossip section in order to just keep herself occupied.

After three more scotches, she was feeling completely light headed, and decided to try her bed again before she was too wasted to get back on her own.

* * *

**Wednesday**

* * *

_Ugh... Why did you have to down half a bottle of scotch last night... Fucking hangovers..._  One of the downsides of passing the age of 25 is that hangovers get incrementally more intense, was what she found out. Now that she was 28, there was no stretching it out anymore.

Asami willed herself out of bed and into the shower, determined to make herself at least presentable for the tour of the factory she was going to expand. Part of the reason she had flown down here was to check it out, and seal the deal. Most of the negotiations had already been done, but this was actually one of the things Asami insisted on doing: checking out large-scale projects like this one. If all went well, Future Industries would build the new factory, and in return, the factory would build their orders using Asami's technology.

This time around, she wasn't picked up in the old as hell Toyota Land Cruiser, but instead in a Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG 6x6. It was probably  _the_  most ostentatious car Asami had ever seen, but hey, it beat a bouncy rust bucket. The one thing she could at least say about it was that whoever bought this, obviously had a cavalier disregard of cost. They had probably stoked through about 20 liters of fuel by the time they reached the factory.

The tour of the factory was rather interesting. Or at least, it would have been, if the man showing her around didn't have a voice so bland and monotonous that she had trouble focusing. They made airplanes, and they wanted to expand, creating more room to build not only small aircraft, but also the somewhat bigger projects like private jets. It was going to be a nice build for Future Industries, especially given that airplanes were the only way in and out of the South Pole, or even just to travel between towns. Ice was treacherous, even in summer, and with a better and faster mode of transport available, a lot of people found it a sound investment.

"Well Miss Sato, what do you think?" the man asked.

Asami was jolted from her thoughts, and looked over. "Well, you are ambitious, but if you spin this right, you could very well be on to something. I think this could be a profitable enterprise for the both of us."

"Then I think we have a deal," he said, holding out his hand. Asami shook it, "Pleasure doing business," she said. She wanted to say Mr., but caught herself just in time, because for the life of her, she couldn't remember his name. It wasn't that the businesswoman was bad with names, but this man was a bit...  _Let's keep it polite here and say 'tedious', shall we?_

She returned to her hotel, hoping to  _not_  spending another night in the freezing cold. There had to be something,  _anything_ to keep her warm. During a bit of mindless flicking over the internet, something suddenly caught her eye. It was one of those adverts that you see everywhere, the "sexy singles in your area"-bullshit ones, that were always just a way to get hold of your credit card details. She would have ignored it, if it hadn't given her an idea.

 _I wonder..._  She switched to the Anonymous Modus of her browser, as she rather wouldn't have her board of directors finding out that she was using her work tablet and phone to look for *ahem*  _company_. As it turned out, the search query 'callgirl Ushuaia' delivered more than a few results. She randomly clicked on one, Wushu's Escort Service.  _This is a stupid idea. Why the hell would you want a callgirl? They are for sex, not for cuddling._  Asami sighed, and shut her iPad off again, placing it on the table next to her. She tried wrapping herself up in her blanket to feel a bit warmer, once again miserably failing.

 _It's a dumb idea, probably one of the dumbest you had so far, including the time you decided to track-test that new prototype which ended up nearly costing you your life._  Asami snickered when she thought back about that day. She was insisting on testing the car herself, but forgot to check the way it was put together: they had used the axel-mounts from a little family hatchback to hold the same parts in place on a 600 horsepower race monster. Naturally, it ended in a disaster, but she was wearing a helmet, her five-point safety harness, and was in a good roll cage, so the biggest injury was that she had to fire six engineers in one go.

A cold shiver ran down her spine, and it brought her back to the problem at hand. She had come to terms with her sexual orientation years ago, and while she didn't flaunt it everywhere she went, it wasn't exactly her deepest, darkest secret. Still, there was a vast, yawning chasm between preferring women over men, and actually paying one to come over and have sex with her. Or spend the night cuddling, at the very least.

- _But you are cold as a fucking popsicle, not to mention that your toes are turning into them._  Asami sighed again, and picked her iPad back up. The same page was still showing, the phone number prominently displayed on the top of the page.  _On the other hand... It's been months since you last got laid, and that is not right. There are worse things than doing this. No one knows you down here._  She clicked through a few pages, raising an eyebrow at the pictures displayed. _But for 500 yuans, I think I should be able to persuade one to stay the night and cuddle._

She shook the thought from her head.  _What the fuck is your problem?! You're a respectable businesswoman, you don't go to the whores!_

- _But you wouldn't be going to them, they'd be coming to you._

_That's a technicality!_

- _You are an engineer, you embrace technicality._

_Shut up, you're not helping!_

Asami groaned and fell back into her chair, and shivered again when she felt the cold leather on her neck.  _That's it, you're calling them._  She unlocked her phone, rapidly typing in the number displayed on her tablet.

"Wushu's Escort Service," a man on the far end of the line said,  _though in a surprisingly cheery tone, considering his business._

"Umm... Hello, I was wondering if..." Asami hesitated, not sure how to continue. Does she just 'order' a girl, like it's a pair of sunglasses over Amazon?

Wushu cut her off, though. "You were wondering if we also send guys over?"

"No, I... No, I'm into women," she continued, trying to sound more determined than she actually was.

The man just laughed. "Well, nothing to worry about, it's a more or less free country here. Did you have a specific girl in mind for tonight?"

"Not really, but... would it be possible for her to... you know, stay the night?"

Asami swore he was snickering on the other end of the line, but was keeping up his composure. At least, he sounded like it. "I got just the girl for you. Sexy as hell, and she can stay there 'till morning. Where do you want me to send her?"

"The Plaza. Room 1206."

"Say no more. I'll send her on her way, and she should be there in half an hour."

"Okay, umm... Thank you, I guess."  _Okay, that guy is having the night of a lifetime, by the sound of things. D'oh well. It's not the first time you made a fool of yourself, and it probably won't even be the last time tonight._

* * *

**Fast forward half an hour**

* * *

_This was a bad fucking idea._

Asami was nervously pacing up and down her hotel room.  _What the fuck were you thinking? Were you even thinking at all?_  Not that it mattered so much, the damage had already been done.  _Right, as soon as she gets here, you are going to tell her to go home. That's it. That's the best way to handle this mess you have gotten yourself in._

Someone knocked on the door a couple of times, and Asami was yanked back into reality.

_Fuck._

She took a deep breath, and opened the door.

_Oh, wow, he wasn't kidding._

The girl,  _or woman, if we're honest, and hopefully not doing anything illegal,_  in front of her was  **gorgeous**. Asami was met with a pair of ice-blue eyes, tanned skin, and a stylish short bob haircut. She was wearing a short skirt and stockings, _naturally,_  and was walking around on a pair of high heels in the snow.  _Speaking as someone who pretty much learned to walk in high heels, that's impressive._  Her blue tank top didn't do anything to conceal a cleavage deep enough to hold up a Christmas tree, which was also richly adorned with a tattoo in the shape of an ornate locked heart. She couldn't even see all of it, as parts of it were covered by the fabric, kind of to Asami's disappointment. To keep the outside world from noticing, she had a coat with her, that she had already wrapped over her arms, which were folded in front of her.  _Her very muscular, tattooed arms,_  the businesswoman thought, noticing the band on her right upper arm and the full sleeve with what Asami assumed to be the four ancient elements on her left, because her forearms were covered with blue armbands, one on either arm. There was also a string of Chinese characters on her left hand. To even out the picture, she had four earrings in her right ear, while she only had one in her left.

"Evening," the girl said, raising a cocky eyebrow. "I take it you were the one who called Wushu?" Asami was too dazed to say anything, so she just nodded, and stepped aside, letting the woman in. She took a look around, shaking her head. "Nope, hasn't changed a thing since I last came here. They should really consider redecorating every once in a while, don't you think?"

"I... It's fine, I suppose?" Asami said, not used to dealing with people so forward. Though to be fair, it was a nice change of pace. Most people she dealt with always tip-toed around her, trying their utmost not to get on her bad side, usually because they want something from her. Not this one.

"What's your name, sweetheart? Wushu didn't tell me who I was visiting."

The businesswoman snickered. "I'm Asami," she said, hoping she wouldn't recognize her by her last name. She nodded, so Asami just took it she didn't. "What's your name?"

"Sapphire," she said, not even batting an eyelash.

"I asked for your name, not your birthstone," the businesswoman replied, mildly annoyed. She hated in when people who concealed who they truly were, and since Asami was putting her cards down on the table, she figured that the callgirl should too.

This took her out of it a little bit. Her hard, confident shell cracked, Asami could just see it. "Korra," she hesitatingly said.

Asami approvingly nodded. "That's more like it."  _Korra. Hmm. Has a nice ring to it._

Korra casually threw her jacket and bag into a chair next to the bed, giving Asami a quick glance at her back. In her neck, she could see the top of another tattoo, only this one was a blue tribal design of sorts.  _Wouldn't it be interesting to find out what?_  Even though she would never admit it out loud, Asami had always had a thing for girls with tattoos.

But then there was the flip side. Here she was, on the far side of the planet, ogling a girl she was paying to be here.  _This is not you._  She felt kind of bad for her.

"You've got it all figured out, haven't you?" Korra asked, of course unaware of these thoughts running rampant through Asami's mind, and walked back to the businesswoman, putting a sexy sway in her step.  _Oh snap._  It sent a small burst of heat coming from her core. The callgirl reached out to Asami, putting her hands on her hips, and gently pulling her close.

Suddenly, Asami felt much more nervous about this than she had ten minutes earlier, and nudged Korra away. "Okay, I've changed my mind, I think you should go. I'll pay you for the effort, but..."

Korra cut her off. "Hey, that's really not necessary. Discretion is rule number one in my line of work, no need to worry." She eyed Asami up carefully. "Besides, you wouldn't have called me over if it wasn't for a reason. So spill it."

Asami shot her a quizzical look, not sure what she was really implying.

"Let me explain: I'm no stranger to requests, but they usually vary from 'dress up in this or that outfit' to 'bring a bottle of champagne and a strap-on'. People rarely ask me to stay the night. So what's really going on?"

The businesswoman sighed. "I just... I'm not from around here, and I'm tired of being cold all the time. That's why I called, and that's why I asked for you to stay the night."

This brought a slight smile to Korra's face. "Cold, you say? 'Cause I think you're pretty hot," she smirked. Asami felt herself flush, knowing that she was probably beet-red by now. It only served to widen the smile on the callgirl's lips. She took Asami by the shoulders this time, and subtly let her hand trace over her chest, undoing the top button of her vest. "But don't worry, I know a few ways to warm you up..." she whispered seductively, sliding her hand down Asami's abdomen to the second button. The vest slid off her shoulders with ease over the silk blouse, and Korra took this as an invitation to start playing with the buttons on that as well.

Even though Asami had her doubts about Korra doing this, the callgirl leaned in, catching her lips with her own, and  _boy_ was it nice. She seemed to know exactly what she liked and how she liked it. Asami felt Korra's warm hand cup her cheek, and the already hot lips sent a surge of heat through her body. Her resolve melted away, and the businesswoman parted her lips slightly, granting Korra access, which she greedily took.

Her hot, wet tongue made Asami feel like a teenager again, kissing the daughter of her father's coworker in his office. It was almost like that first kiss all over again, only now with a perfect stranger who she was paying an absurd amount of money to be here.

However, this didn't deter Korra, who promptly moved down to the second button, undoing it, revealing the white tank top underneath. After that, everything took a turn for the fast. Korra pulled her blouse over Asami's head, quickly discarding it, and proceeded to do the same for her own tank top. When the callgirl gave her a shove so that she stumbled backwards onto the bed, it gave the businesswoman a good look at Korra's body, which was pretty much the definition of the phrase 'a sight to behold'.

First off, the abs.  _Jesus Christ on a sandwich, **those abs**._  Korra was fit in every sense of the word, and her abs were the ultimate proof of that. Not only that, but the newly exposed skin also gave way to more tattoos, namely on the underside of her chest, in the form of a flowerbed for the locked heart, and two Colt .45's which were placed on the front of her hips, giving the illusion of being tucked into her waistband.  _Damn. She definitely comes prepared._  To top it all off, she also had her belly button pierced, with a small sapphire in the button itself. The businesswoman sighed at the realization.  _Christ in heaven, if that's not the pinnacle of confidence, I don't know what is._

"Holy shit..." Asami murmured under her breath, but the callgirl heard it.

"Hmm, liking what you see?" she asked, a cocky smirk growing on her face.

The businesswoman wanted to answer, but never got the chance, because she was cut off by Korra pressing her lips against Asami's again. Her tongue sought entry in the businesswoman's mouth, which it easily found. At the same time, she was tugging on the tank top Asami wore underneath everything against the cold, indicating she wanted that off too.

Once Asami raised her arms to give the callgirl the room she needed to make that happen, she was only left in her bra. A cold shiver ran down her spine as the cold air rushed over the newly exposed skin, but Korra was on it. She slid down Asami's body, pushing her soft breasts into her stomach, pressing a series of kisses down her neck, making a successful attempt at warming her up again. Asami felt a surge of heat racing through her when she felt the callgirl cup one of her breasts, gently squeezing the soft mound. It got a soft moan from the businesswoman, which amazed her. Under normal circumstances, she was perfectly capable of keeping her emotions in check.

These were not normal circumstances, however. Korra was clearly an expert in this,  _because let's face it, it would be naive to think this is her first rodeo,_  and it was most certainly showing. She hooked her free hand around Asami's back, unclipping her bra with ease. The callgirl quickly relieved her of the constricting clothing, and kissed her way down to Asami's nipple, leaving a few hickeys in her wake. She took it in her mouth and gently suckled on the nub, making Asami gasp once again.

"Oh God," she breathed, completely enthralled by the way Korra was turning her on. Even though they didn't have any connection beforehand, it felt like she knew how to push all the right buttons, knew all of her weak spots. The callgirl switched sides, gently taking a nipple between her teeth, lightly nipping on it while sliding her hands down Asami's sides. She hooked her thumbs in the hem of her pants, sliding one hand around to undo the button, and quickly yanked them down, leaving the businesswoman in just her panties.

"Korra, wait..." Asami panted, feeling an unfair division starting to form. The callgirl sat up again, making sure she could actually focus on what her client would have to say. "Could you..." the businesswoman stopped for another gasp halfway through, as Korra cupped her panties, shooting a bolt of electricity through Asami's body. She ran a finger over the moist fabric, and the businesswoman could swear she saw a smile appear on her face.

"Could I what?" she smirked, leaning down to gently take a nipple between her teeth again. It made Asami once again lose her train of thought, and it took her a while to come back around, leaving the callgirl free to play with her a little more. Eventually though, Asami managed to run her hands down Korra's back, undoing the clip of the bra. Korra looked up from playing with the businesswoman's breasts, once again with that cocky smirk on her face. "Oh, so that's what you meant," she said, and quickly discarded her own bra as well. The armbands still stayed on, though.

It once again threw Asami off her rocker, because  _Christ in heaven, can this get any better,_  her nipples were pierced too. _That does beg the question: what else is pierced?_  The businesswoman couldn't resist the urge to reach out and gently cup one of the callgirl's breasts, taking extra special care to tug slightly on the barbell piercing one of Korra's nipples.

She bit her lower lip, right before that dammingly handsome smirk appeared on her face again. "Hmm, you like them, huh?" she asked, the grin even seeping through into her voice. Asami desperately nodded, widening the smirk on Korra even further. The callgirl pushed her back by the shoulders, leaning down with her, and gently nibbled on Asami's ear. "There's more where those came from," she whispered, pressing a soft kiss behind her ear. "And I'll let you guess where..."

"God..." the businesswoman moaned, and Korra went back to work. She slid back down Asami's body, picking up where she left off before she was interrupted. The callgirl lightly bit into the other nipple, making Asami gasp for breath once again. It was pure heaven. Everything she did somehow worked for her, be it the light bites or the way she slowly snuck a hand down the hem of Asami's panties, gently pressing down on her clit.

Asami choked back another moan, but she couldn't fool the callgirl. She quickly yanked off Asami's panties, leaving her completely nude and free to play with. The businesswoman fisted Korra's hair, if only so she would have to something to grab hold of. She used it to guide her down slightly, as the desire building up in her hips was quickly becoming too much for her to bear.

The callgirl got the hint, but the kept the pace she was moving at agonizingly slow. She pressed a series of kisses down Asami's stomach, knowing that taking her time would only increase the intensity of an eventual orgasm.

"Dammit Korra..." Asami breathed, as she started panting from the arousal. "Just do it..."

Much to Asami's surprise, there was no sarcastic reply, and she instead dove in, eagerly pleasing the businesswoman's lower lips with her tongue. "Oh God..." she moaned, because it turned out that Korra was the very best at what she did. Once again, she knew just which pressure points to hit, where to suck, where to lick, and just how to curl her fingers.

Massive bolts of electricity raced through Asami's body, reaching all the way into both her hands and feet, finally warming her for the first time in days. She let go of the side of Korra's hair, and instead put one hand on the back of her head, all awhile pushing her hips up to gain more friction. It definitely worked, since the businesswoman could feel her climax approaching fast.

Korra continued eating her out, and was eagerly licking between her lower lips, before sliding slightly up, gently pinching Asami's clit between her teeth. It got another loud moan from the businesswoman, who was very near the edge now. "Fucking hell..." she loudly breathed.

But right at that moment, the callgirl pulled back entirely, with a big smile on her face. "Such a dirty mouth on such a neat girl. Wouldn't have called that." The smug self-superiority wasn't exactly an undertone in that statement, and Asami lifted her head up from the pillow, looking into a pair of blue eyes, sparkling with an unmistakable tease.

"Why... did you stop?"

"Don't you know the buildup is half of the fun?" Korra smirked, pressing a soft kiss on the inside of Asami's thigh.

Asami huffed, almost insulted by the callgirl's arrogance. "Damn, you know your business," she panted, realizing that Korra was actually partially right.

"Let me make it up to you." She sat up completely, slipping out of her skirt, stockings, and underwear, revealing that her hood was pierced as well. By now, it wasn't even a surprise to Asami anymore, but that didn't mean she didn't like it. _Goddamn, how can she get any hotter?_  On top of that, she had another tattoo on her hip, this one a poem of sorts, if Asami was to hazzard a guess. Korra reached into her bag, taking out a small bottle, squirting a little bit of its contents into her hand. "Don't worry," she said, picking up on Asami's nerves. "This will only make things better, because I promise you, there is no such thing as too much lube."

She rubbed it over Asami's core, spreading it out evenly. There was hardly any friction left, but Asami had a sneaking suspicion that was exactly what the callgirl was aiming for. Korra lifted one of the businesswoman's legs, gently pressing her core into Asami's, and started to rock her hips back and forth. "Christ in heaven, Korra..." the businesswoman breathed, completely enthralled by the feeling. Scissoring normally wasn't very high up on Asami's list, but the way the callgirl was moving around, especially with the rather large bud of her piercing rubbing against Asami's clit, it was taking her to places she wasn't expecting to go.

The earlier waves of heat came rolling back over her body, as Asami was pushed towards her climax again, this time aided by the view of Korra's  _amazing_  body. The businesswoman pushed her hips up, hoping for the callgirl to achieve a little bit more friction, which worked, much to her own surprise.

"Fuck!" Asami called out, unable to hold it in any longer. "Don't stop!" Naturally she didn't, as it was having an effect on her as well as on her client. Korra started panting as well, feeling the strain from working the businesswoman up like this.

Massive bolts of electricity raced through Asami's body, and she could feel the peak approaching fast. She hooked her leg over Korra's shoulder, who reacted by grasping onto it, pulling them even closer together. The callgirl picked up the pace slightly, rocking her hips back and forth even faster than she had before, aided by the grip on Asami's leg.

"Oh God..." the businesswoman panted. "Korra... I'm going to come..."

"Come on baby, do it," Korra breathed back, clearly still in better shape than Asami was. Her thrusts became harder, Asami's breathing became shallower, and her moans became louder. "Fuck! Korra... Don't stop!" There was no stopping it now. She was on the brink of her orgasm, and when the bud of Korra's hood piercing brushed past Asami's clit on more time, it became her undoing.

She screamed a load of only half-distinguishable profanities, as the callgirl kept on riding her, stretching her climax out as far as she possibly could. Asami lost all comprehensive thoughts, all of them overridden by the sheer waves of pure ecstasy rolled over her.

Korra dropped her leg again, and plopped herself down next to Asami with a loud groan. "Fucking hell Sato, you're a piece of work," she said, having to catch her breath herself. With a groan, she reached down to the foot of the bed, pulling a blanket over the both of them, despite the fact that they were both  _really_  hot already, judging by the beads of sweat trailing down their bodies.

Asami was still too dazed to come up with a response. Her hands were shaking from the intensity of her orgasm, and the words the callgirl said didn't really click at first. After she came around though, which took quite a while, it did. "Wait, what did you just say?"

"You nearly passed out there. It must have been a while, hasn't it?"

The businesswoman blinked. "I... You know who I really am?"

"Oh, that." Korra chuckled. "Well, you're the richest woman in the world, did you really think that someone like me, who spends a lot of time around a bunch of gossiping yentas, wouldn't know who you are?" She gave Asami a meaningful look. "You might be sitting on 30 billion yuans, but anonymity is the one thing you can't buy with that."

_She's got a point, you know._

- _Must you do that?_

_Goes without saying, really._

Asami sighed. "Damn it. Are you sure you can keep this a secret? I really don't want to find it plastered over the news tomorrow that I called you here."

"Don’t worry. Like I said, discretion is rule number one in this business, so even if I were to open my mouth, yes, it'd be awkward for you, but I'd lose everything I have. Trust me, it would be more costly for me that for you."

The businesswoman wasn't convinced, but she didn't really have a choice but to believe Korra. "Alright, I guess I will." Asami stretched her fingers and clenched her fist, before something of a smirk appeared on her face. "Now then..." she said, rolling onto her side, facing the callgirl. "I believe I have some unfinished business..."

"What are you - ohhh..." Korra interrupted herself as Asami snuck her hand under the blanket, and in between the callgirl’s soaking wet folds. She tugged slightly on her hood piercing, getting a small gasp from her. "Asami... You don't have to - God..." she suddenly interrupted herself, as she couldn't contain a moan.

The businesswoman smiled, well aware that her long and nimble fingers had that effect on most girls she got into her bed. The callgirl was already soaking wet from their little scissoring session, so Asami saw her chance, and slipped two fingers into Korra. "Oh but I insist," she smirked, taking the lead over from the callgirl. "It's not a very good deal if it leaves one party unsatisfied..."

Asami rolled on top of Korra, using her free hand to gently squeeze her breasts, continuously switching sides for extra effect. Her nipple piercings made it all the more fun for the businesswoman, who simply  _adored_  those things. She pressed a soft kiss on Korra's lips, and curled up the fingers that were inside her at the same time, making the callgirl angle her head back in ecstasy.

Despite the rather unwieldy angle, Asami managed to get a series of moans from Korra, who was not very accustomed to being worked on herself, was the businesswoman's best guess. She felt the callgirl run her fingers through her wavy black hair, trying to put her hands somewhere. "Fuck..." she choked out just as Asami slid in another finger. Unsurprisingly for her, it wasn't particularly difficult to do so, but it was still having an effect.

The businesswoman sped up her movements, making Korra squirm even louder than before. Despite the fact that Asami was pretty much lying with her full weight on top of the callgirl, she managed to arch her back, lifting them both off the bed, before falling back down. Asami decided to roll back off her, working on her from the side instead of from the top, leaving her more room to work with.

Ultimately, Korra bucked her hips again, and the businesswoman felt her clench up around her fingers as she broke out in a massive cry of ecstasy, before she finally calmed down, falling back onto the matrass, panting like a dog that just ran the marathon. "Christ Asami... How did you..." she breathed, but was unable to finish her sentence.

"Did you think you were the only one who has done this before? Women never leave my bed unsatisfied," she said, realizing it was her turn to smirk.

A tear emerged from the corner of Korra's eye, and she buried her face in the crook of Asami's neck. "Thank you," she mumbled into her shoulder, still catching her breath. They just lay there for a while, the businesswoman deeply enjoying the warm body pressed closely up against her. She traced her finger over the part of the tattoo in her neck that she could see, which wasn't a lot, if she was honest with herself.

"Feeling warm again?" Korra ultimately smirked, turning to press a series of soft kisses on her neck.

"Hmm..." Asami purred in confirmation. "I'll say..." After an exceedingly satisfying orgasm, that was about the only thing she could say. It was becoming very difficult to fight back her needs to sleep any longer, and her eyes started to close, slowly, but it was quickly becoming a losing battle.

"Just roll over Sato, then I can keep you warm throughout the night, if you want to be my little spoon."

That was a very appealing prospect to Asami, so she did just that, and before long, she was out like a light, soundly asleep in the strong, tattooed arms of the callgirl.

* * *

_Right guys, let's get this show on the road! I've been working on this project for a while now, and believe me, this won't be the last you'll see of this story. Chapters 2 and 3 are guaranteed, and I might even continue it after those two. I hope you enjoyed the story, so please, do leave a review. The image I used as the cover art was done by KYHU, who is exceedingly talented, and in fact, I largely based my desgin of Korra around that very drawing, but I got a bit carried away. If any of you would be willing to make an actual drawing of the Korra I described here, do please let me know. Toodles!_


	2. Second Cold Shiver

**Thursday**

* * *

For the first time since she arrived in the Southern Water Tribe, Asami wasn't freezing. Instead, she woke up wrapped securely in a pair of tanned arms, pulling her tightly against a warm body.  _Next time, tell common sense to go fuck itself. This is great._  The businesswoman took a deep breath, and tried not to disturb her stove.

She realized she was pretty much unable to move, as Korra did a great job last night. 500 yuans might be a lot of money for a night of company, but most certainly worth it in this case.

The callgirl stirred in her sleep too. She let out a soft yet very un-ladylike snore, which made Asami giggle. "Good morning," the business woman opened.

"Morning," Korra groggily replied, pressing a soft kiss on Asami's neck. She contently shut her eyes again, exceedingly comfortable as the little spoon in the callgirl's strong arms. Closing her eyes one more time was something Asami pretty much hadn't done since she was a college student. Being CEO meant she had to get up every morning bright and early, if not for meetings, then it was because she had some sort of contract to sign or something like that. This time however, was different. Her board would take care of the contracts for now, and her first meeting wasn't until eleven.

But Korra just  _had_  to ruin the moment. "Mind if I use your shower?" she asked, her voice completely innocent, ironically enough, given her profession.

"Sure, go nuts," Asami dryly answered, understanding her reasoning, but also slightly bummed that her stove would be getting up. She understood, though. Not everyone has the luxury of sleeping in.

The callgirl let her go, wriggled her arm free, and this was Asami's cue to roll over as well. Korra walked stark naked through the room, not even bothering to throw on a robe or something, giving the businesswoman a perfect view of her richly tattooed back. The tattoo was massive, running all the way from her neck down to her buttcheeks. The best Asami could make of it was a blue tribal design, with something that remarkably resembled a diamond-shaped eye in the middle.

Her perfect view was sadly spoiled when Korra closed the door of the bathroom, so Asami let out a loud sigh and rolled onto her back, slowly feeling the cold creep over her again. She huddled up all the blankets and reached over to the hotel phone, calling room service, ordering pretty much everything they served for breakfast.

Korra came out of the shower again at just the right time: room service had just left a trolley with breakfast essentials in front of her.

"Great timing. Want some breakfast?" Asami asked, as innocently as possible, trying to cover up the fact that Korra made her breathing hitch by walking out of the bathroom, wrapped  _only_  in a towel, and yet she still wore those damn armbands.

The callgirl raised a cocky eyebrow. "That's not exactly standard practice, and it won't get anything off the price."

Asami laughed. "Are you kidding me? I call you over to the Presidential Suite of The Plaza, and you think I have to worry about cost?"

The callgirl's smirk grew. "Alright, you're on." She sat down on the foot of the bed next to Asami, and pulled the cart a little closer to her. The businesswoman felt strangely comforted by having someone to share breakfast with for the first time in quite a while.

"So..." Asami opened, not quite sure what to make mealtime small talk over with a perfect stranger. "What are your plans for the day?"

"You know you don't have to fill the time with awkward talk, right?" she asked, and started munching down on a croissant with jam.

The simple reminder made her smile. "I suppose..." She sighed. "I guess it's just something I always try to do: make small talk until an actually interesting topic pops up."

Korra nearly choked on her croissant when a gush of laughter escaped her. "Asami, you're a businesswoman and I'm a hooker. I highly doubt we have a lot of mutual interests."

 _Well, you can at least think of **one**  thing._ Asami sighed. "Alright, then let me start simple: what is the tattoo on you back? It's gotta mean something if you cover your entire back with it."

It got the callgirl smiling. "Very good. It's Raava, a deity from Southern mythology. She is the Spirit of Light, guiding people through dark times. I wasn't very religious before, but then..." She hesitated, and Asami saw another crack appear in her confident shell. "Then everything changed for me, and she appeared to me. It was one of the most important moments of my life, and that's why I decided to make her a permanent part of me."

The businesswoman was torn. Part of her was extremely curious about what had happened to Korra, but common sense told her not to ask about it. It had obviously been a traumatic experience, and it wasn't her place to ask about it. They didn't know each other, and she still owed the callgirl 500 yuans for her company.  _That's kind of depressing. The first person you genuinely like and you owe her a preposterous sum of money._

Korra stood up and quickly gathered her clothes. She dropped the towel again, throwing another glance over her shoulder before disappearing into the bathroom to get dressed, giving the businesswoman one last view of the massive tattoo on the gorgeously muscled and tanned back.  _Now that's what I call service._  The callgirl's shell was back in place. Asami sighed again, before walking over to her purse to so that she could grab the money she needed.

When Korra had put on her coat again, Asami felt a pang of sadness go through her. It was a weird feeling, considering that she only hired her for the night, and that she would probably never see her again. Still, it was so...  _comfortable_  to have someone around to hold her, and to keep her warm in the South Pole's brutal winter. The businesswoman handed Korra her fee, plus a generous tip. "Thanks Korra. It was really nice having you around."

She took the money and smiled. "Well, just doing the job you paid me for. Take care, Asami," she said, and with that, she walked off. Asami stared after her until she had to make the corner to the elevators, and then went back into her once again empty room. She decided to take a hot shower, prepare her for the rest of the day.

Once she was fully dressed up, Zhu Li and Varrick came by to pick her up again, because they would try and organize a three-way co-venture with the City of Usuhaia. This time though, they weren't in his old Land Cruiser, but in a Range Rover, and judging by the interior, it was the top-of-the-range model. They drove down to City Hall, where Asami and Varrick would make an attempt at getting the city to allow them to build a new shipyard. It would allow Varrick to build ships for his company close to home, and it would give Asami another big project.

"So, you seem very relaxed," Varrick opened. "If I didn't know any better, and I don't, I'd say you got laid."

A massive surge of heat raced over Asami's face, and she didn't need a mirror to realize that she was probably red as a tomato.  _Dammit past me, why didn't you wear more make-up today?_  "I, uhh..." she stammered, most certainly not prepared to deal with the issue, at least not this bluntly.

"Nah, you worry too much, it's perfectly normal," Varrick continued. "So tell me, who's the lucky guy?"

Asami was still stammering trying to get over the fact that Varrick was asking her this so bluntly. "It-emm... It wasn't... really a guy..."

It made Varrick laugh hard. "Really? You're batting for the other team? Who knew?!"

Mostly embarrassed, Asami looked down and nodded, hoping that her make-up would help cover up most of the furious blush racing across her face.

He clapped her on the back, unable to hide a massive grin under his thin mustache, clearly finding this whole thing hugely entertaining. "Kid, there's nothing to worry about, this is mostly a free country anyway." Varrick suddenly turned away, a disapproving scowl appearing on his face. "Wouldn't hurt of the chief didn't know about this, but we'll just have to keep this under wraps for a few more hours. Anyway!" he continued, back on his loud and excited tone. "We are going to make some huge waves over at the Palace, trust me on that. Just let me do the introduction, and they'll be eating out of your hand!"

 _You'd rather have someone else eating you out._  Pictures of the gorgeously tattooed and muscled back flashed through Asami's mind, but she quickly shooed those thoughts away, and forced herself to focus on her upcoming meeting. It did have her slightly worried, though. Why was Korra still on her mind, even now that she was back into her 'CEO Sato'-mode?

She decided to dismiss the idea in its entirety, as they were coming up to the Southern Water Tribe's Governmental Palace. This is where Asami and Varrick would try and get permission for their shipyard, which shouldn't be very hard. If all went according to plan, it should mean a healthy influx of new job openings, and that would be something the Southern Water Tribe sorely needed. They arrived at the Palace, where Varrick and Asami were led inside, fortunately only having to take a few steps through the bitter cold of the Southern winter. When they came up to the office of the Chief, the businesswoman couldn't help but feel a little bit nervous. This, second only to the contract she signed with Varrick, was pretty much the biggest deal she could make here during her visit to the south pole.

Once inside, Asami saw that the Chief of the Tribe was a rather slender man, looking a lot older than she knew him to be. His long hair already had quite a few streaks of gray pulling through it, which definitely didn't help that. She didn't really know what it was, but there was something about this man she didn't trust, as there was just an air of discomfort hanging in the room. "Unalaq Amarok," he said, holding out a slender hand.

"Asami Sato," she replied, trying not to flinch as his handshake was flimsy and clammy.

The discussion turned out to be tougher than she thought. She had early plans from her R&D and planning departments, but the chief wanted to see more than that before he would consider selling large swaths of land on the coast, especially since they could only sail out during the summer months.

In the end though, he did agree to a reasonable price, and they could do the rest of the paperwork at a later time. A look at her watch revealed that it was nearly five in the afternoon.

"What do you say, kid? Want to grab some dinner with me later on?" Varrick asked her once they pulled up to the hotel again.

 _Oh **fuck no** , you can't take any more of this guy for today._ "No thank you, I appreciate the offer, but I'm just going in for an early night today," the business replied, trying to keep the disdain out of her voice as much as she could.

"That's alright. Guess I'll see you later!" With that, he sped off again, leaving Asami alone again. When she came back up to her room, there was a small pang of disappointment going through her at the realization that it was empty again. She sighed, and threw her surprisingly heavy bag stuffed with all sorts of contracts and documents in a chair, before letting herself fall onto her bed, sighing loudly before kicking her mighty uncomfortable heels off.

- _Why do you even wear those stupid things? You have a million pair of heels that don't kill your feet after three hours, and you choose to wear those!_

_But they look so nice!_

- _Oh, just be practical for once._

_Shut up, they did help in settin up a deal where the profits have eight zeros._

Since it was still early, Asami decided not to go down for dinner just yet, and instead treated herself to a hot bath. She undressed herself in the bathroom while the tub was filling up, and smiled as she saw the faint traces of a hickey on her collarbone, left there by Korra. It was also when she realized that she hadn't been cold all day long.  _Who would have known, calling in a hooker actually worked._

Reaffirming to herself that, against all odds  _and_  what she would have said last night, she made the right decision, Asami contently smiled, and cautiously stepped into the bathtub. It was slightly on the hot side, but that was kind of the way she liked it. Her lineage led back the Fire Nation, which might explain her fondness of all things warm. Feeling the hot water on her skin was massively relaxing, and it didn't take long for Asami to let herself slip into something of a content nap.

It took quite a while before she woke up again, because whereas it was only dusk when she went into the bath, it was well and truly dark when she woke up again. A quick glance of the clock confirmed this, as well as the skin of her fingers, which looked like it could be peeled off with no effort whatsoever.

A cold shiver ran over Asami's spine when she stepped out of the bathtub again, so she made quick work of drying and dressing, before she ventured down to the restaurant to have some dinner.

It was boring as hell. Having dinner by yourself is passable if you have something passive to do, like read a contract or watch some Netflix, but neither one was an option in a three-star restaurant.  _In all honesty, you'd prefer the croissant dressed in a bathrobe sitting across from Korra._

Her mind briefly shut down for a moment.

_What. The. Fuck. You did not just think that._

- _What? At least she was nice._

_Because she was a hooker you paid a ridiculous sum of money, you fucking idiot!_

Asami sighed. That was the second time today Korra popped into her mind, which was not a good sign. All of a sudden, she also wasn't feeling very hungry anymore, despite the fact that she still had a side dish and dessert left. She asked the waiter if she could skip the former, and instead went straight to the warm chocolate cake with liquid chocolate center.

The businesswoman dragged herself back to the elevator and into her suite, where she felt another cold shiver go down her spine. She was alone again, and hated every second of it. Asami changed out of her day clothes and into her extra warm pajamas, before crawling under multiple layers of blankets, and popped the TV on. It was on the sports channel, and of course, they were playing ice hockey.

Her timing also couldn't have been better, as one player was lying on his stomach, and another put his skates sideways to avoid hitting him head on, sending a flurry of ice into his face and collar. Asami rolled her eyes.  _What the fuck were you expecting them to play, beach volleyball?_

She sighed and changed the channel, where a movie was playing. It took her a while to realize, but it was Inception, and she dropped in near the end. "Couldn't someone have dreamt up a goddamn beach?!" Fischer yelled, as he was half-buried by an avalanche.  _Are you kidding me?_

Next channel was playing Top Gear. And la tee freakin' daa, it was the Arctic Special.  _Oh for fuck's sake._

The businesswoman decided to give the TV one more chance, but everything seemed to conspire against her at the moment. It was playing Frozen Planet, normally a gorgeous nature documentary, but now, it only worked on her nerves.  _I must have pissed off a god or two, because this is bordering the ridiculous._  Asami sighed, and shut off the TV again, rolling over in her bed to see if she could try to catch an early night sleep.

But try as she might, she missed the relaxing feel of the strong, tanned arms around her, and the warm body pressed up behind her...  _God. Fucking. Dammit. Three times in one day. This isn't good for you, so knock it off._  She sighed again, as it was promising to be another long night.

* * *

**Friday**

* * *

Asami woke up with a shiver, as a cold breeze ran down her back.  _A bed the size of a fucking football field, and you still sleep at the very edge of the blanket._  It was an old habit Asami had been unable to shake: she tended to work her way to the side of the bed during the night, and sometimes she would end up with her back exposed to the cold air of the room around her. 'Cold' applying all the more here in the Southern Water Tribe.

 _Damn, I wish Korra was here._  Asami resolutely closed her eyes again, desperately willing herself to forget she had ever thought that.

She was only moderately successful with that, as that dammingly handsome smirk appeared in her thoughts again. _Okay, maybe not even moderately successful._  Thankfully, her phone started ringing, finally pulling her thoughts away from the callgirl.

"Miss Sato, I'm very sorry to disturb you so early, but I'm afraid it's urgent." It was one of her board members, and he did sound serious.

"Don't worry about it Kao, I needed the distraction anyway. What is it?"

He spent the best part of the next hour trying to explain that one of the production lines of cars had fallen out because one of the chief maintenance engineers had been filling his own pockets instead of fixing the assembly line. Asami patiently listened, happy that her thoughts weren't constantly drifting off to the callgirl.

"I assume you already fired him and pressed charges for embezzlement and fraud?" She asked when Kao was finally done talking.

"Of course we did, but there is only so much I can do on such a short notice, especially without you here."

Asami pinched the bridge of her nose.  _I wouldn't be here if it hadn't been for you, asshole._  She repressed the bitter thought, and instead tried to give constructive advice. "Alright, here's what you're going to do. I want you to send the workers of that line home for the day, paid leave of course. There is a small stash of company funds I keep locked away precisely for contingencies like these. You make the necessary calls, and do whatever it is you need to get that line back up, you hear me?"

Kao thought for a moment. Either that, or he was just too stunned to reply. "Did you say  _paid_  leave?"

"Yes I did, I will not have my workers pay for the mistakes of someone else. I want the maintenance crew to have all the room they need, and if the workers aren't going to do anything but sit around and drink coffee, they might as well go home. Now I'm still in my nightwear, so you get started, while I get ready for the day, and I'll call you back in an hour for an update. You can send any bills that need to be paid immediately to me, I'll take care of them for now from the stash I just told you about."

He sighed very audibly. "Alright. I better get to it then." With that, Kao hung up.  _Greedy fucker._  This was exactly why Asami didn't like him, or most of her board, come to think of it. Most of them were worth figures with seven zeros, if not more. The businesswoman insisted on paying over minimum wage, taking care of healthcare, dental, and retirement benefits. The board didn't seem to realize that it was not only for the good of their employees, but also a lot of good PR. Future Industries was often mentioned as a sort of model company, structured like how other companies should aspire to be. If they would cut the wages and benefits, they would have to spend triple the savings on avoiding a PR disaster.

Asami quickly dressed herself, and started making phone calls to various people, some of whom needed a good earful, some of whom just needed a few words of encouragement. She also called her secretary, telling her to cancel everything. The bills for advances of technicians and delivery companies started to trickle in, and she broke into the emergency fund, just like she said she would.

After a while though, the numbers she saw pass in front of her, were starting to worry her.  _Christ, this is going to be expensive._  Her phone calls started to become more frantic, shorter, snappier, and Asami ultimately caught herself lashing out at a different board member.

She threw the phone down on her bed, trying to take a moment for herself in order to build her patience back up again. To say that today had been stressful would be a massive understatement. By the time the clock struck five, the businesswoman was at the end of her tether. She ordered room service, or more specifically, a bottle of 32 year old scotch, because  _fuck no, I'm not going to drink the swill they have in the minibar._

The stress slowly subsided, as the alcohol started making its way through her veins. Once again however, the cold caught up to her. Even with the scotch giving her the false idea of warming up, Asami could feel the freeze creep its way up through her toes.

The situation was mostly handled for now, but it still didn't sit well with Asami. With the stress this day had brought her, she felt more and more like just giving up for the rest of the day, and just do nothing for a bit.

Dinner was another dull affair, and worst of all, they hadn't lit the fireplace tonight. Understaffing, was the excuse they gave her.  _Bullshit, my room costs the company 2000 yuans a night, understaffing my ass. That thing is either broken or didn't pass an inspection._  Still, the fact was that there wasn't a fire lit, meaning it was all the colder for her.

- _You know what would help with that?_

_Shut. The fuck. Up. I spent all day pushing thoughts of her out of my mind._

- _You mean thoughts of her strong, tanned arms, securely wrapped around you, pulling you into her soft breasts, with a gorgeous and a very, very, pleasantly warm body attached?_

Asami's mouth nearly started watering at the realization that the side which was urging her to call her again was actually on to something there. She abruptly stood up, walking back to her room, dropping herself in the leather armchair again. Despite wearing three layers, the cold radiating from the leather seeped through her clothes, sending another shiver down her spine.

She sighed again, internally berating herself for even letting those thoughts race through her.  _It was a one-time thing._

- _Hm-hmm, sure it was._

_I'm not calling her again._

- _Of course you're not._

_Shut up._

A second cold shiver pushed her over the edge again.  _Well, shit._  She unlocked her tablet, once again looking up Wushu's Escort Service.

* * *

**Fast forward 45 minutes**

* * *

"I see you enjoyed it a lot," Korra said upon stepping inside again. "Would have thought your resolve would last longer than two days, but there you go." She dropped her purse and coat in the same chair she did last time around. "Guess I made a lasting impression," the callgirl smirked, looking exceedingly pleased with herself. Asami eyed her up cautiously, once again seeing that the callgirl had taken her time for her wardrobe. This time around, she was wearing a pair of  _very_ skinny black skinny jeans, a different pair of heels from the last time around, and another low-cut top, only instead of blue, it was white, making a gorgeous contrast with her tan skin tone. The other thing she noticed was that Korra was now wearing a different pair of armbands, this one a gray and white tribal design, but of roughly the same size as the ones she wore last time around.  _Hot damn, she did it again. You're probably drooling on the spot._

"Don't flatter yourself," Asami threw back, trying to match Korra's smirk.

"I don't have to, the fact that I'm here does that for me."  _That's kind of true, you know._  "Anyhoo," she continued, once again walking back to the businesswoman, wrapping her arms around her waist.

Asami sighed, putting her fingers on the callgirl's lips, stopping her before they could kiss again. "Korra, stop. I... I didn't call you to have sex again. I mean, it was great last time you were here, but... that's not why I wanted you to come again."

She pulled back, raising a cocky eyebrow, and a supremely smug grin crept over her face. "Let me guess: you're still cold as a fucking popsicle?" Asami nodded in response, only making the grin grow. "Oh, this is just too good. You would actually be willing to pay 500 yuans just for a cuddle-buddy?"

"Well, when you put it like that... Yeah, I suppose."

Korra threw her head back, bursting out into a roaring laugh. "Alright, I think you should know this: you are the first client I have ever had who is reluctant to have sex with me. After all, that is kind of what I do."

"Glad you're so pleased, Korra," Asami smirked, unwilling to give her all the satisfaction. "Look, I really enjoyed your company, and not just because you made me come like a howler-monkey and kept me warm through the night. It was really nice to have someone who is blunt and direct to me and with whom I can have a conversation that doesn't involve the signing of a contract at some point."

This seemed to soften the callgirl up a bit. Her smile changed from cocky to genuine, and she fell silent for a moment. Her carefully constructed armor was down for the moment. "So..." she ultimately continued. "Cuddle-time?"

Asami smiled and nodded. "You get comfortable, I just gotta go get ready." She walked off into the bathroom, taking her silk pajamas with her, where she quickly changed and brushed her teeth. By the time she stepped back into the main room, Korra had already worked her way under the covers at the far side of the bed, and she folded the blanket open, inviting the businesswoman in, still wearing her armbands. She complied, and the callgirl wasted no time wrapping her arms around Asami, making that familiar wave of warmth rush through her.

This was also when she noticed something. "Korra, are you wearing anything?"

"Yeah, of course I am."

Asami wasn't the least bit convinced, and reached back, letting her hand slide down Korra's body, feeling mostly skin. "You're only wearing panties."

The callgirl huffed. "What? I get hot when I sleep, especially when  _someone_  asks me to hold her and be her cuddle-buddy."

This made the businesswoman chuckle, and she shifted her position slightly.

"Gaahh!" Korra suddenly exclaimed, making Asami whip her head around, lying only inches from the callgirl.  _Thank God it's dark so she can't see how hard you're blushing._  "What is it?" she worriedly asked.

"My piercing got stuck in your bra."

"Oh for crying out loud."

"So this is my fault? Why do you even wear a bra in bed?"

Asami huffed. "Well, unlike you, I actually like to be dressed in bed." She suddenly felt the fabric loosen around her, realizing that it was Korra's doing. "You - did you just unhook my bra?"

Even the darkness couldn't hide the smug grin on her face. "Did you really think I couldn't do something like that without you noticing?"

Asami rolled her eyes, and rolled back onto her other side, facing away from the callgirl again. "Korra, I'm not paying you to come over and have sex with me again, I told you that."

"And I was told to make you feel good, because that's what I do..." She slid her hands under Asami's shirt, playing with the hem of her pants. It also didn't really help Asami's resolve that she used her other hand to move her hair out of the way and press a series of kisses in her neck, leaving the businesswoman unable to choke back a soft moan.

"Ko-ooohhh..." she breathed, as Korra's hand snaked its way into her panties, and gently started rubbing between her lower lips. "Tell me to stop, and I'll stop," the callgirl whispered, but by now, Asami's resolve was completely gone, broken down in mere seconds by Korra for the second time this week. "Christ that feels good..." Asami moaned, feeling the stress from the foreman-situation melt away.

A wave of heat rode through her relaxing all her muscles, and forgetting all the trouble this day had brought her. The businesswoman also failed to notice that Korra used her free hand to pull up both her top and bra, leaving her free to play a bit with Asami's breasts.

The callgirl gently pinched a nipple, making Asami bite her bottom lip in an effort to hold back another gasp. "Let's get rid of these things," she muttered, finally pulling the rest of the businesswoman's clothes over her head, and discarding them on the floor, leaving her topless.

Korra gently dipped her fingers through Asami's opening as soon as she was wet enough, which didn't take very long. "God... Korra..." she moaned, simply delighted by how the callgirl was working her up -  **again.**  She also moved her hair a bit further back, softly sucking on the skin just behind her ear, which happened to be one of Asami's most sensitive spots. How the hell she knew about that particular bit of information was a mystery to her, but not one she could bring herself to care about at this time. She gently moaned, relishing in the sensation of being worked up like this.

"Ssshhhh... Just let it happen..." she whispered into Asami's ear, and proceeded to press more soft kisses on her neck. Korra used her free hand to gently squeeze her breast, before moving to the other one to softly pinch her nipple again, earning her a gasp from the businesswoman. There was just something about the way very experienced hands were playing with her breasts, how she was rubbing her fingers through Asami's - by now - soaking wet folds, that just wasn't like how she remembered other girls doing it to her. It just felt right.

The callgirl dipped her tattooed fingers into Asami again, only this time she didn't pull back immediately and instead started pumping up and down, slowly but deliberately. The bolts of electricity it sent coursing through the businesswoman's body made her breathing hitch, and she choked back a moan.

"Don't worry Asami... You can let me hear you," Korra whispered, and gently nibbled in her earlobe for a bit. That was basically all the motivation she needed, worryingly enough.

"God..." Asami moaned, playing right into the callgirl's hand. But she couldn't be brought to care at the moment, mostly because she was getting incrementally close to her climax. Korra's two fingers inside of her were giving it their all, and there were no signs of them letting up anytime soon. "Oh fuck... Korra, don't stop..." the businesswoman breathed, quickly losing her coherent thoughts. She slid her own hand around, firmly grabbing onto the callgirl's rear, trying to pull it closer to her.

Because Korra already had both arms wrapped tightly around Asami, it didn't really have any effect, but it did give her feeling that getting closer together was impossible. The callgirl curled her fingers up again, earning her a loud gasp as she brushed them past one of Asami's most sensitive spots.

It hadn't been very difficult for Korra to get the businesswoman to come, a glowing testimony to her skills. "Oooohhh..." Asami moaned, making the callgirl smile. "Christ that's so fucking gooood..." The callgirl rubbed her thumb past Asami's clit one last time, and this pushed her over the edge.

"AAAAAHHHH!" The businesswoman screamed as the sheer wave of pleasure washed over her body, and the heat emanating from it was more than enough to make her forget about where she was right now.

Despite the simplicity, it was very satisfying, and in line with what Asami had in mind earlier. Korra had just taken it that little bit further, and it was that little bit that made all the difference.

She slowly came back down from her high, trying to catch her breath as she relaxed further and further into the callgirl's comfortable grip. Right now, the businesswoman couldn't really care less that Korra had undressed her, albeit only half, but the effect was the same: feeling her soft breasts being pressed into her naked back was nothing short of amazing.

The callgirl pulled her hand free from Asami's pants and pressed another kiss on her neck. "Warm again?"

Asami let out a tired chuckle. "Yeah, I suppose. Like I said, you know your business," she managed, before yawning dramatically.

" _Way_  better than just a cuddle-buddy, am I right?"

Because of her long and stressful day, she was already very tired, and fighting back her sleep became impossible. "Fine... You win..." was the last thing she mumbled before sleep overcame her, once again being held by the strong, tanned arms.

* * *

_Second chapter guys, hope you enjoyed. Not every chapter is gonna be smut, in case you're wondering. Laters!_


	3. Aston Martin DB Mark III

**Saturday**

* * *

Waking up wrapped in those arms was nothing short of amazing, as far as Asami was concerned. She let out a very content sigh, trying to succeed where she had failed last time around: not waking up Korra.

It went a lot better this time, as the businesswoman nearly dozed off again herself, pressing herself against Korra's warm body. Letting the warmth of the southerner run through her was a sort of treat, one that only comes by every once in a while, which was exactly why Asami was trying to savor the moment.

Even though she was doing her utmost not to disturb Korra, it didn't matter because she woke up anyway. She stretched the arm under Asami, making her elbow joint pop. "Aahhh," she contently sighed, but the businesswoman cringed.

"Must you do that?"

"Nope, it's purely voluntary," she sarcastically threw back. Asami once again snuggled in a little closer into the callgirl's arms, hoping she could stay all day long, even if she knew better than that.

To calm her mind though, she decided to check her phone for the time. 8:30. _Perfect. You have roughly an hour and a half left for your conference call with your board. Benefits of the two hours you have over them._

Korra wasn't in a rush either, so Asami relaxed into her grip a little bit longer. She was a little bit curious about her tattoos, so she took the time to closely examine the full sleeve on her left arm. At least, the exposed parts, as it seemed that water and earth were mostly covered up by her armband.

She traced her finger gently over the Chinese characters on the callgirl's left hand, which made her chuckle. "You like those, don't you?"

"Just wondering what it means. I'm pretty certain it has something to do with the elements on your arm."

Korra rolled away, and Asami followed suit. As it turned out, she wasn't planning on getting out of bed, she just wanted to give the businesswoman a better view of the characters. "It all ties back to the legend of the Avatar, another one from Southern mythology. Supposedly the master of the four elements, and he was meant to guide the world towards balance. That's what the characters on my hand mean. It's an old verse of sorts, meant to capture it all." She traced her finger over the symbols, reading aloud as she did.

群雄四分  
天下一匡  
降卋神通

"Powers divided in four, and all under heaven is guided by one, the divine being who has descended upon the mortal world." She smiled. "Beautiful, don't you think?"

Asami couldn't help but feel the air of grandeur as Korra solemnly read those words. There was a reverence to it, something that made her feel like it was more than just an old wives tale. "Yes it is. Do you think it's true?"

"I don't know. But what I do know is that it left traces on the world. The Air Nation, Earth Kingdom, etcetera. That's where the marks on my fingers come in."

水 土 火 气  
善 強 烈 和

They were neatly spread out, the top four marks on the middle row of phalanges on each finger, the bottom four on the first row. "Water is benevolent, earth is strong, fire is fierce, and air is peaceful." She paused for a moment. "No, I don't think there was a guy who could shoot fire from his fingertips and summon a tsunami with a flick of his wrist, but I do think there is something to this legend that people are overlooking." She chuckled again. "Plus, makes me feel like the Avatar. Every time I punch someone with my left hand, I can say: 'All four elements, bitch'."

Asami laughed too, and realized it felt very comfortable to be like this at the moment. Even though they were both topless, it didn't feel weird, she didn't feel exposed.

More to the point, she realized that in the light of day (the curtains could be operated with a few buttons on the nightstand, talk about decadence) Korra was not only sexy, she was gorgeous. Not flat-out beautiful, but there was a rogue-ish handsomeness to her that Asami had rarely seen in women.

- _Except of course, for... **her**._

_Shut up, took me long enough to get over that._

- _If you're over her already, you know more than I do._

Asami sighed, and Korra picked up on that. "What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing you'd want to hear about."

"Sure I do, otherwise I wouldn't have asked."

It made the businesswoman break out into a slightly caddish smirk. "Well, if you insist, you remind me of one of my ex-girlfriends."

The callgirl raised a cocky eyebrow. "Good or bad?"

"Well, you have the same body type as her, and she was good in bed, so you tell me."

Korra pushed Asami onto her side, wrapping her arms around her again. "Hmm, I'll take it as a compliment then. From what I hear, you pick and choose your lovers."

"You trust the gossip magazines?"

"Hard-pressed to do so, but there's always a core of truth in them, even if it is far-fetched."

"You being here kind of proves the opposite, wouldn't you say?"

Korra chuckled. "Good point." She was silent for a brief moment, during which Asami relaxed into her comfortable grip a little more. She knew that she'd have to get up at some point, letting go of her very pleasant source of warmth, but she sure wasn't making any efforts to speed that process up. "So what happened between you?" the callgirl asked.

Asami sighed again. "Well, at one point, I overheard her on the phone, and what it basically amounted to was that she was with me for my money, not for me. That's why I'm single, it's very difficult for me to tell which is which. It's been very hard for me to trust people ever since then." It briefly fell silent between them, and the businesswoman decided to make herself do something useful. "Right, time to take a shower."

"I could join you, if you want me to," Korra offered.

Asami raised a cocky eyebrow. "I suppose that's extra?"

"Depends on how thoroughly you want me to help you clean yourself," she threw back, her usual smug smirk on her face.

The businesswoman chuckled. "I think it's better if I don't take you up on that offer. Do feel free to order some breakfast though, it's on me." With that, she took one last breath while she was still under the warm covers, before throwing them off, and immediately regretted that. She had momentarily forgotten that she was topless, and it didn't take long before she felt it. It wasn't so much the fact that she was naked around the callgirl that bothered her, it really was the cold.

She quickly reached over to her pajama top that was lying on the floor and slipped it on, helping a little bit as she shivered again. One look over to the smirk on Korra's face, who was clearly enjoying the show, and she got quasi-angry. "Not. A word."

She raised her hands, pretending to be innocence itself. "I didn't say anything."

"I can hear you think it."

Korra laughed out loud at this. "Touché, Sato. So what do you want, French toast or bacon and eggs?"

The businesswoman shrugged. "I trust your judgment, you choose." And with that, she was off to actually take a shower. Trying to undress was slightly difficult, as both her panties and her pajama bottoms were sticking to her legs like crazy glue. _Holy hell Korra. Next time you decide to make me come like a howler monkey, remind me to take my damn pants off._

By the time she was done again, the callgirl had ordered a big breakfast. All she was wearing was a towel wrapped around her hair, a hotel bathrobe, and a pair of fluffy slippers, yet Asami was really looking forward to sharing another breakfast with Korra. She had taken the liberty of slipping into the silk blouse the businesswoman had worn last night, only half bothering with buttoning it up, exposing the tattoo on her chest again.

- _You do realize you're staring at her boobs, right?_

_Shut up, I wasn't..._ Asami mentally slapped herself back into reality, and sighed. _Fine..._

- _Cue the David Glen Eisley: "And it's sweet, sweet, sweet victory."_

The callgirl had noticed, and her smirk returned. "You know I can do a rundown with you of all of them if you want to, just say the word."

A slight blush appeared on Asami's cheeks. "I... Thanks, but I think I'd rather do breakfast first." _Wrong, you'd rather do her again, but I guess we'll gloss over that._ Before she could find more ways to embarrass herself, the businesswoman sat down to pour them both a cup of tea, and started peeling an egg. After a brief silence, another clever question popped into her head. "Say Korra, how come you're not freezing? You're wearing next to nothing, and it's not exactly toasty in here."

"What can I say? I've lived here all my life, you learn to live with the cold. If you can't walk around without pants indoors, you won't last long here in the South Pole. You're proving my point."

"Because I'm from a temperate climate?"

"Exactly!"

Asami rolled her eyes, making Korra chuckle again. The rest of the breakfast followed a similar pattern, most sassy one-liners being countered with passive-aggressive remarks, but it was good fun for the both of them. By the time they were both done, it was 9:30, which meant there was only half an hour left before Asami's conference calls would begin. She'd had the common sense to pack her clothes in pre-picked sets, as she had already foreseen that it would be cold, and cold would play parts in getting her out of bed. _Or rather, not getting out of bed._

"Fuck," came a muted swear from Korra, who was checking the contents of her purse.

"What is it?"

"I switched purses yesterday, and forgot to switch my make-up with it. Could I borrow a little bit from you?"

Asami smiled. "Of course you can, it's on the counter in the bathroom."

A sincere smile broke across Korra's face. "Thanks Asami." She quickly gathered her clothes, and slipped into the bathroom, and before long, the businesswoman could hear the shower. Now would be a good time to call her assistant to see if she forgot anything. "Nikita, could you pull up the agenda for the upcoming conference call?"

"Sure thing, Miss Sato." There was a bit of rustling on the other side of the line, before she came back again. "First off, Kao has requested a bit of time to make the last of the emergency repairs to the foreman situation, the participation in the off-shore oil drilling near the Fire Nation, the board is very curious to hear about your progress in the Southern Water Tribe, particularly about the contract with Varrick and the shipyard, and lastly, there are the pre-ambles to the quarterly filings."

_That all sounds riveting._ Asami flicked through her inbox, but much to her frustration, couldn't find any of the documents she was looking for. "Nikita, did you mail me the paperwork of those quarterly filings?"

It was briefly silent on the other end of the line. "It's entirely possible they are waiting for you on your desk."

The businesswoman sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Alright, swearing isn't going to solve this. How big is the file?"

"Pretty big. I can try to summarize, but in 20 minutes, that's extremely ambitious."

"Do it anyway, I need those documents, and fast. I'll buy you as much time as I can, the other topics need some attention as well." Nikita was invaluable to her, even if she could be a little clumsy at times, but she was such a sweetheart that Asami wouldn't dare fire her for something small like this, even if this was very inconvenient.

A sigh of relief came from the other side. "Yes Miss Sato, I'll get on it right away. I'm so sorry about this."

Asami missed the last of what she said, because Korra had come walking out of the bathroom again, fully dressed up. Contrary to last night, she wasn't wearing a lot of make-up, and instead had only opted for a little bit of eye-liner.

And _boy_ , did it look good on her. Her naturally dark skin tone looked absolutely fantastic, being brought out all the more by a very distinct lack of blush. The lack of eyeshadow also meant that her very blue eyes looked even brighter than normal, and the end result left Asami flabbergasted.

"Earth to Asami," the callgirl said, waving her hand around, while the smirk on her face grew. "Liking what you see again?"

"I... uhh..." she stammered, and then finally regained herself. "I mean, you look really good when you only have a little bit of make-up on. Caught me a bit by surprise, that's all." _Uh-huh, of course it did, Dr. Lightman._

"Thanks. But I think you should get back to your secretary, she's getting impatient," Korra said, pointing to the businesswoman's phone, which she had dropped. Now that Asami focused back on her phone, she could indeed hear Nikita trying to get her attention again.

She quickly picked it back up, almost dropped it a second time, making Korra's smirk grow once again. "Is everything alright with you?" her secretary asked.

"Yeah, I had company for the night." _You. Fucking. Idiot. You couldn't just have said you were still getting dressed or something?!_

_Yes, thank you for that very helpful commentary, Captain Hindsight._

"That sounds very tempting. Do I need to move your meeting up an hour so that you can have a little bit more time?"

Asami loudly sighed, fighting off the urge to chew her secretary out. "Just get me the damn documents," she simply said, before promptly hanging up and turning to Korra again. "Alright, let me get you your money."

She walked over to her purse to get the callgirl's fee, once again throwing in a handsome tip. The businesswoman handed over the wad of money, and Korra quickly counted it. "You gave me too much again."

"It's not half enough Korra, thanks for coming over." She leaned in to open up the door, and then everything happened very quickly.

Korra leaned in too, quickly pecking Asami on the lips, much to both of their surprise. The businesswoman immediately pulled back, staring at the callgirl with wide-open eyes. Her expression of sheer surprise, she imagined, was quite similar to her own. A furious blush raced over Korra's face, who only stood frozen in place for a few more seconds, before racing out the door. "Bye Asami, see you later!" she yelled back over her shoulder, while making double-time towards the elevator.

Asami just stood there, completely shut down from what had just happened. Sure, there had been plenty of kisses between them earlier on, but this... This was different in every single way. It was affectionate, and despite it only being very short, there was actual feeling in there. It wasn't staged, something like that would be impossible to act out, especially given Korra's reaction.

It wasn't until a particularly cold gust blew past her that she was snapped out of it again. _Right. Conference call._ She quickly made her way back through her room, and sat down at the desk, opening up her secure video line on her iPad. Asami didn't have the feed from Republic City yet, so that gave her a few moments to check the angle of her own camera, which turned out to be a good thing.

Something that stood out was a faint bruise on her neck, which on closer inspection turned out to be a hickey. Asami sighed loudly, because the worst part was, she didn't really mind all that much, mostly because it was Korra who put it there.

- _Are you fucking kidding me?! Falling for a hooker?!_

_No I'm not!_

- _Oh please, don't be stupid. Why else would that last kiss feel so special to you?_

_Because it was very nice?_

- _For fucks' sake._

Since she only had a split-second to decide, she paced back to her suitcase, pulling out a scarf she had intended for in-door use. _Who says three suitcases is too much for a two-week stay?_

With the hickey brilliantly covered up, she went back to her iPad to make her final check of her camera when her iPad started ringing, and she started the meeting. "Gentlemen, good to see you all."

"Welcome Miss Sato, how is your stay?" one of them opened.

"It's chilly, but I hope it'll all be worth it. Kao, did you manage to smooth things over after yesterday?"

He cleared his throat. "Yes, I mostly did, a few last kinks to works out, nothing serious. The foreman in question has been detained by the federal police, so we definitely know it's serious. We'll be able to take it to trial shortly."

_Great. Courtrooms and lawyers. Christmas in fucking July._ "Alright, this does bring me to something I have been meaning to discuss with you: I need to replenish the emergency fund I used for this yesterday, I nearly drained it in the process. It would take about a million yuans to get it back up to strength."

There was an audible groan over her audio feed, and Asami had a hard time not rolling her eyes. _This is going to be one **long** meeting._

Lunch soon rolled by, and they scheduled an hour-long break for everyone. The businesswoman went down to the restaurant, where a familiar face was waiting for her. "Varrick," she greeted him coldly, raising a discerning eyebrow. "What brings you to the Plaza?"

"I'm having lunch with my assistant," he innocently replied. "They have the best crab cakes here." Asami glanced over to Zhu Li, but she didn't say anything, and stoically took a sip of her wine. "Anyway, why don't you join us? We ordered too much anyway."

She reluctantly took a seat, knowing it would probably be in her best interest. "Alright, spill it. You wouldn't be here if you didn't have some ulterior motive."

"Asami, how suspicious of you. Why do you assume malicious intent?"

"Because you have a reputation."

Varrick laughed at this. "Yes, I suppose I do, but I can honestly say I have no evil scheme planned with this." Much to Asami's surprise, he pulled up a more serious face, and leaned in slightly closer. "The Chief's office contacted me. He's having second thoughts about the shipyard."

_Son of a bitch._ "Of course he does, you think this is a stalling tactic?"

"No, I think he is genuinely leaning towards saying no, so we have to do something about winning him back."

Asami sighed. "Alright, tell you what, I'm currently on break from a meeting with my board. Next point on the agenda was the shipyard, so why don't you come up with me so that we can inform them together? You have a better idea of what's what in that case."

"How long do we have before the meeting resumes?"

"Little under an hour."

Varrick hit the table. "Zhu Li! Cancel everything I have planned for the next two hours, I've got a deal to work on. Now!" he suddenly continued, pushing a plate of food her way. "Crab cakes, like I said, best in the Southern Water Tribe. Dig in!"

The businesswoman hesitantly took a bite, and she had to hand it to the eccentric Southerner: this was one damn good crab cake.

Once Varrick and Zhu Li had patiently waited for Asami to finish her lunch and paid the bill, they went back to the suite, and Varrick joined her in explaining the exact situation of the shipyard to her board. What it basically amounted to was that Unalaq wasn't looking forward anymore to selling the land, and they didn't have any contractual obligations to make him do that just yet. It also meant that Asami would have to pull all the plugs, and probably go to their next meeting, which was on Monday, with a Queen Anne-neckline on a form-fitting dress. _Sexist bastards._

- _Hey, if it gets results, it should be worth it._

_Remind me why I indulge you?_

The board meeting took up most of the afternoon, and since Varrick was involved with two of three points still on the table, he stayed for the majority of them. By the time the quarterly filings rolled by, Asami asked him politely but firmly to fuck off, and stop getting on her nerves. _Just not in that exact wording, that would be rude._

- _You think?_

Nikita had managed to summarize the report everyone had received rather well, as the businesswoman didn't miss anything major. It was mostly preparing work, but it would save them a lot of hassle later on.

Of course, that didn't mean it wasn't more boring that watching paint dry, but that's beside the point for the moment.

In the end though, they did make some good progress, and Asami was fairly pleased with how the day turned out. It had been a useful meeting with the board, and it hadn't been as horrible as she'd expected.

But then, the worst part of the day began again: the evening. Cold, dark, and miserable. The only thing Asami had to cheer herself up was a _far_ too luxurious dinner on the company, and she hadn't finished the 32 year-old bottle of whiskey she had bought a few days ago. The fireplace still hadn't been fixed, much to her grievance.

By the time Asami was sick of everything, she found herself in her bed, once again missing the callgirl's warm grip.

Was it just her grip, though? It was so... _comfortable_ around her, even if it was just because she had someone to share breakfast with. There was a mystery to her that Asami couldn't quite put her finger on. Even when Korra was naked or next-to-naked, she had armor on, and was set on not letting anyone in.

But that wasn't how Asami worked. She always wanted to get to the bottom of things, and the way to do that in this instance was to get to know her better. If she'd call her over again, she should really try a lot harder to resist her, but that was hard. Between the tattoos, her amazing body, and playful personality, it wasn't easy to say no, especially when she was incessant as well.

Lastly, there was the kiss. That last kiss, right before she left. Over in the blink of an eye, but there was something in there, something more than just a woman doing this for a big paycheck. Perhaps she was feeling the same way? That would almost be an ideal situation, but there was only one way to find out. _I have to call her again._

- _Gee, that's a sacrifice. No idea how you're going to manage._

_Shut up._

Right now though, all of that was out of the question, most obviously because she wasn't here. This meant a cold night and a lonely morning.

Asami sighed. _Fuck my life._

* * *

**Sunday**

* * *

- _You're never going to get used to this cold-thing, are you?_

The shiver running down her spine made Asami realize she completely and utterly agreed with this. To make matters worse, it was Sunday. Normally, Sunday was Asami's day off, meaning she got to do some tinkering on the Aston Martin DB Mark III she was currently restoring, but not while she was on the other side of the planet. Rising groggily out of her bed was not the most pleasant way to wake up, no matter the temperature, but she knew that Korra _not_ being there definitely didn't help.

- _You fucking idiot. Five seconds from waking up, that's got to be some sort of record for thinking of a prostitute that's been by twice._

_Shut. Up._

- _Aggression implies that you know you're defensive, and therefore losing._

_Oh come on, Commander Spock, you're supposed to be on my side._

- _I'm your voice of reason, something that you sorely need._

Asami sighed. She knew it was true, even if she didn't like it. Thinking about Korra so much wasn't good for anything, least of all her psyche. What she really needed was something to distract herself with. Something... mechanical.

After a few seconds, it hit her like a ton of bricks. The perfect solution to keep her distracted, at least for the time being. Sure, it would be embarrassing for a few people, but that would be the least of her concerns. _They had all the time in the world to do something about it, and instead chose to stand around with their dicks in their hands. Go get 'em tiger._

It was one of the quickest showers Asami had ever taken, and her outfit wasn't exactly going to win any elegance awards either, not to mention the absolute minimum of make-up that she forced herself to wear when going out in public or the ponytail that screamed 'I'm only doing this because it's practical.'

The elevator would be too slow in this case, so the stairs would do, it was only four floors. _Good exercise._

Throwing all caution to the wind, she stepped to the front desk clerk. "Say, is your fireplace still broken?"

The guy there sighed. "Miss Sato, it was shut down because of understaffing, not because it's broken."

"I have a Master's in mechanical engineering, I know when something is broken, and that thing is broken. So I'm here to ask you this: have you got a toolbox?"

Asami was fairly certain that if the clerk's eyes weren't held in place by the optic nerve, they would have rolled out of their sockets from surprise. "Miss Sato, I... I can't let you..."

"Can it. I've been freezing my ass off in this hell-hole for the past week, I am dying to fix something, and the closest thing in my direct vicinity that is broken is your fireplace, so you either give me a toolbox so that I can work on that thing, or I go down to the nearest hardware store to buy a multitool and fix it with that. Now can we do this the easy way?"

He stared at her in disbelief for a few more seconds, but then he gave in. "Alright. Please wait here, I'll be right back." Indeed he was, bringing a basic set of tools with him, but it would do the trick. Asami followed him through a door that said 'Staff only', and led her to the back of the gas-powered fireplace.

"Miss Sato, I'm going to inform my superior of this."

"Good man," Asami replied. "If he gives you any trouble, just send him to me." With that, the clerk walked off, leaving the businesswoman to play with the mechanics of the fireplace.

She first took off the casing, exposing the mechanical work below. A little to her disappointment, it wasn't as complicated as she'd hoped, but it would still take her a while to go through it all. Mostly because, well, it wasn't as complicated as the 2.9L straight six of her beloved Aston Martin.

_Let's get crackin'._

Asami tinkered heavily with valves, trying to find out what was broken. It turned out to be the gas regulator, and for safety, she knew it to be designed to shut off completely if it was broken, hence the lack of gas flow into the fireplace.

"Excuse me, Miss Sato, but what are you doing?" a man's voice sounded in the room, but Asami was tucked under the lines, hands playing with the pipes covered in soot.

"Working on your fireplace, it's broken. Could you be so kind to turn the red valve to your left counter-clockwise as far as it will go?"

The creaking indicated that he did, and the businesswoman smiled. "Is it shut all the way?"

"I think it is," came the timid reply.

The bolt that was holding the valve on was tightened very well, but Asami wasn't a wimp, so with a very big wrench, she managed to pry it loose, and slid out from under the contraption. There, a very disheartened hotel manager was waiting for her. "Morning," she cheerfully greeted him. "I'd shake your hand, but I don't want to get your fancy suit dirty."

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because I'm bored senseless. Oh, if you were planning on yelling at the clerk who let me in here and gave me tools, please don't, I'm the one who pressured him into letting me do this. Now, could you point me to the nearest hardware store? I need a regulator valve just like this one," she said, holding up the broken component. "Should be for sale at any semi-decent store, but I have no idea where to look for one."

"I take it you're insisting on this?" Asami threw him a confirming nod and a patronizing look, upon which he bit back a sigh, she could just tell. "Alright, then I have to insist that you use the hotel car service. Our driver is skilled in the deep snow, and knows where to get the component you're looking for on a Sunday."

"Thank you. Now I'll go wash my hands, and then I'm pretty much good to go."

She quickly ran back up four floors, washed her hands so that she wouldn't get soot over the fancy hotel car and her coat, slipped back into said coat, her gloves, scarf, and hat, before she was on her way.

Turns out the hardware store was on the other end of Ushuaia, and because of the snowfall of that night, it took them quite a while to get to the store, but not as long as it took her to get someone to help her find the part she needed. Three spotty teenagers and a store manager later, she finally had a valve identical to the one that was broken.

As soon as the Bentley Bentayga 4x4 pulled back into the hotel parking lot, she was met by the manager, humbly opening the door for her. "Miss Sato, if you'll allow me to do so, let me at least serve you lunch on the house."

She dryly chuckled. _Well, at least he's making an effort to keep you in his good graces._ "That sounds fantastic," she said, knowing that refusing his offer would only insult him further. Instead of going back to the fireplace, he led her to the restaurant, where it only took minutes for her orders to be delivered. _Some poor schmuck is waiting extra long for his food, it seems._

Another look around told her that she was the only one there not dressed to perfection. It's not like she was hopelessly _under_ dressed, but when held against men showing up in three-piece suits and women in hideously expensive silk blouses, her woolen slip-over and black jeans did seem a little... simple.

Not that the businesswoman was one to care right now. She knew that it was all because she was doing useful shit, not just gobbing away at food that's _far_ too expensive, when take-out Chinese would do the trick as well. For all her fine tastes, a refined palate was never something she could quite get the hang of. She always got compliments about her excellent sense of fashion, taste for interior decoration, even her choice of cars, but then surprised the world when she was spotted going through the drive-through at a Burger King.

- _In hindsight, it probably wasn't the best idea to do that in an yellow-flaked McLaren convertible._

_Meh, I was hungry. Besides, it's not_ as _bad as a McDonalds._

- _Good point._

Before long, she had finished her lunch, and got back in the mindset for tinkering with the fireplace. Attaching the valve again wasn't very hard, and within about fifteen minutes, she called the hotel clerk to try it out again.

It was next to impossible to suppress a slightly smug smirk as the fireplace came to life again on the first attempt. "There you go, now you know who to ask first," she said, upon which the clerk turned bright red. "Now I just have to put the tools back in place. Could you point me to the garage?"

"Certainly, Miss Sato, if you'd please follow me," he said, bowing like a straight razor. As it turned out, it was a toolbox from the maintenance area of the hotel cars, which wasn't really a surprise. What was a surprise though, was what was in it. Sure, the businesswoman had expected to see three Rolls-Royce Phantoms, a Bentley Mulsanne, and two Bentaygas that had taken her to the store earlier, but there was one car in particular that drew her attention.

Tucked away in the corner, there was a bright red classic Porsche 911, one of the most beautiful and best sportscars ever made, in Asami's not-so-humble engineering opinion. Much to her delight, the man that had driven her earlier was bent over the open engine bay.

"Now that's a thing of beauty," she said, approaching the classic.

He looked up, a smile on his face. "You think so?"

"1965 Porsche 911, six cylinder air-cooled boxer-engine. If it doesn't sound like there's a box of nails in the carburetor, you've got it tuned wrong."

"Then I've got it wrong, because it doesn't sound at all," he said, walking to the cockpit to demonstrate this. When he turned it over, it spluttered immensely, gave an occasional bang, but nothing noteworthy.

Asami raised her hand, urging him to stop. "Kill it, I've got four ideas of what can be wrong with it. Has it got clean fuel in it?"

"Yes it does, just filled it up, but it won't fire."

"Got the H-T leads in the correct order?"

"1-6-2-4-3-5."

"No dirt in the carburetor?"

"Cleaned it with a Q-tip."

"Alright, that leaves us with the timing," Asami said, bending over the engine bay as well. When she looked up at her fellow engineer, she smiled, as his face scrunched up. Clearly, he had forgotten about that.

"Damn," he swore under his breath. "Let me get the proper tools."

Before he could move, Asami stopped him. "Let's introduce first. Asami Sato," she said, holding out a soot-covered hand.

He looked at it and smiled, grabbing it firmly with a grease-covered hand. "Koda Nasak, pleasure to meet you."

Together, they toiled away at the car for the remainder of the afternoon. Koda informed her of how he was allowed to work on his little pet-project during his free time, which he had a lot of now, during the winter months. A lot of roads weren't sprinkled with salt, so when the 911 would be done, he could drive it around without any dangers of corrosion. He would have to pay close attention that it wouldn't be slippery though, but that was a sacrifice worth making.

"Alright, let's try this puppy again," Asami ultimately said when she was reasonably convinced the engine was now tuned properly.

When he did turn it over, it took a few goes, but in the end, the engine spluttered to life. Just as she had predicted, it sounded like there was a box of nails rattling away in it somewhere, but that was the whole idea of an air-cooled engine. _They simply don't make them like that anymore._

"You know, you're not at all like what I expected," Koda said.

"And what would that be like?" she asked, raising a cocky eyebrow.

He grew a little uncomfortable at this. "Well, you know, spa days, massages, that sort of thing."

She chuckled. "That's for beauty queens, I like being buried up to my elbows in greasy engines as much as you do. I'm restoring a 1957 Aston Martin in my free time."

He smiled. "You have certainly proven that, Miss Sato. My apologies."

"Asami for you," she said, holding up her hand. "We've worked on a true classic together, we can go by first names."

"Alright, Asami. Well, no disrespect, but it's knocking-off time for me, and we probably both smell like we need a shower. Thank you for all your help."

She laughed again. "It was my pleasure. I would have spent my day bored senseless anyway." With that, she walked back to the elevator, this time with a real sense of accomplishment. Working on the 911 was thoroughly satisfying and kind of therapeutic, plus, Koda being very kind certainly helped.

That being said, she was also fairly tired. Mechanical work like that required a lot of focus, and she'd hate to make sloppy mistakes on somebody else's classic.

When she stepped back into her room though, she got the shock of her life.

"Hey Asami."

The businesswoman's heart almost burst out of her chest from the shock, most certainly _not_ expecting Korra to be waiting for her _in my own suite!_ "Christ in heaven Korra, you scared the life out of me! What the fuck are you doing here?!"

"I had the night off, so I decided to keep you company for now," was her bone-dry response.

Asami's mouth was still in the metaphorical process of closing. "How the hell did you get into my room?"

The callgirl chuckled. "Well, I've been in this business for over ten years, there isn't a front-desk clerk in Ushuaia I'm not on a first-name basis with. Plus, men are idiots. Show enough cleavage, and when you say 'jump', they say 'how high?'. I also brought pizza," she said, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. Korra stepped aside, revealing two large boxes sitting on the table.

"Is this some sort of company policy I missed? The 'bring pizza to lucrative clients'-policy?"

"Something like that." Korra chuckled. "No, that's not really the reason. It is really my day off, and I'm here out of my own volition, as you might be able to tell by my wardrobe." Asami glanced down, seeing that the callgirl wasn't dressed in a typical short skirt and low-cut top, but instead in a pair of sweatpants and a slightly faded Southern Tiger Seals shirt (the local ice hockey team).

_How the hell did you not notice that?_

- _Maybe it's the fact that she just showed up in your hotel room out of the blue._

_Good point._

Korra took a deep breath. "There is another reason. Asami, I've been in this business longer than I should have, and in all my time doing this, do you know how many times someone refused to believe my stage name? Never. I mean, there were nice clients, sure, but even to them, I was an object. I was just the means to an end, a tool to bring pleasure." She took another deep breath. "And then you showed up. Like I said, you were the first client I actively had to persuade to have sex with me, as that _is_ sort of a company policy. But no, what really stuck with me, was that you treated me like a human being. You refused to accept Sapphire as my name, you insisted on finishing me off as well, you offered me breakfast, and you actually tried to have a real conversation with me. It's just so unusual for me to be with someone who is nice simply because they think of me as a person."

Asami couldn't help but soften up at the confession. "Look, Korra, I don't see what I did as special. I guess... I don't know, I don't see why I would treat you like anything _else_ than a person."

The callgirl smiled. "And how depressing is it to realize that you are one-of-a-kind with that?"

"Very."

"Exactly. And that is why I'm here, because you're the first client I had that I genuinely liked, and I figured that you would probably be cold again by now."

The businesswoman raised a suspicious eyebrow. "What, like the last time you came over here to be my cuddle-buddy?"

Korra gave her a 'fair enough'-nod and chuckled. "No, though I see your point. I promise you, I won't seduce you tonight." The odd phrasing of that sentence made Asami smile. "Now," she continued, snapping her fingers. "You get to choose."

This took her by surprise. "Between what?"

"The Walking Dead or Orange is the New Black," she said, holding up a DVD-copy of the first seasons of either show.

"Walking Dead," Asami decisively answered, a big smile appearing on her face. She moved to a chair to take off her coat and shoes, while Korra prepared the television. "I'm gonna go shower, since I stink like engines and grease, and change into something a little less dirty, be right back," she said, taking her leisure clothes with her into the bathroom.

- _You mean the only clothes you have with you that make you look like a trailer-park fashion queen?_

_Yes, they're comfortable._

- _They're ridiculous. How the hell are you ever gonna get someone hot for you when you're dressed like a redneck who is okay with marrying her brother?_

_Because that is not what I'm trying to accomplish here._

- _Uh-huh, of course you’re not._

Asami decided not to entertain thoughts like those any longer, as she was genuinely looking forward to what Korra had in store for her. When she stepped out of the bathroom again, this time dressed more or less like the callgirl, only with a very warm and comfortable hoodie over it, Asami found her lounging on the couch.

"Ah, perfect timing, I just set everything up. Now I didn't know what kind of pizza you like, so I brought one with tuna and one with mozzarella and pesto."

The businesswoman chuckled again. "Both sound fine." She sat down on the far end of the couch, but Korra had other plans.

"Nuh-uh, you come sit over here," she demanded, patting the spot on the couch next to her. Suddenly, Asami had her doubts about this. If Korra really wanted to keep her promise about not seducing her tonight, why was she acting like her girlfriend? On the other hand, the prospect of cuddling up against the warm girl was _extremely_ appealing.

Ultimately, her love for all things warm won out, and the businesswoman walked over to Korra, cautiously leaning against her side, and she instantly wrapped an arm around her waist. "Trust me Sato, you're going to love this." The callgirl hit play, and pulled the boxes of pizza closer, opening one up.

For some reason, Asami had zero reason to doubt that statement.

* * *

_Merry Christmas, everyone._


	4. Red

**Sunday evening**

* * *

Asami didn't really know what was happening, because it felt almost like she was floating. In the background, she could hear the soft tune of the end credits of another Walking Dead episode, but she still had some trouble piecing together what was going on exactly. After a little while though, she realized that simply was because Korra was carrying her bridal-style. "You could have just woken me up, you know," she said, a slight smirk appearing on her face.

"Meh, you're not heavy."

"I've gained two pounds since I landed here, it's possible that you're just freakishly strong."

The callgirl chuckled. "Let's be flattered and say both of those are true."

Asami let her head rest against Korra's chest, feeling the soothing rhythm of her steady heartbeat. When Korra finally stopped walking, the businesswoman looked up in surprise, seeing the teasing smirk on the callgirl's face.

In a very undignified moment, Asami yelped out in surprise as Korra threw her down on the bed. She was a mess of limbs and got caught in the sheets, leading to a boisterous laugh from the callgirl. "Okay, that was too easy," she said once her laughing had subsided enough.

Asami had managed to win the battle with the sheets, and looked up and the toothy grin on Korra's face, which definitely suited her. In fact, it was the kind of sight Asami could get used to.

- _Do I even need to say what that sounds like?_

_I suppose not._

She glanced up, and saw how Korra was distracted by her own amusement, so Asami took the opportunity to grab her by the arm, and flip her over her shoulder and onto the bed as well, before straddling her. "I spent years taking self-defense classes, I know how to handle myself."

Korra's typical smirk widened. "I can bench-press 180 pounds, and you don't weigh that." To demonstrate this, she grabbed Asami by the neck and the small of her back, pushing her into the air like she was a balloon. "Hmmm... I'm gonna say 140."

The businesswoman turned beet-red at this. "Put me down!" Korra complied, throwing her back onto the bed in another inelegant heap, forcing Asami to shake her hair down again. The fact that this made the callgirl lick her lips escaped her. "And for the record, I weigh 135." Korra raised an eyebrow that said 'we both know that's a lie'. "Oh, alright, 138," she quickly admitted. "I haven't been doing my usual exercises down here."

"There we go, that's more like it."

A comfortable silence fell while they both worked their way under the covers, Korra taking of her sweatpants before she did that, but this time, she didn't take off her shirt. Asami turned onto her side, and Korra wrapped her arms around her waist again. They laid like that for a few minutes, before she spoke up again. "Asami?"

"Hmm?"

"How gay are you?"

This took the businesswoman completely by surprise. "Excuse me?"

Korra recanted a bit. "Okay, maybe that came out wrong."

"Yeah, maybe it did."

The callgirl playfully nudged Asami in the shoulder, and she felt the breath of a dry chuckle on her neck. "Let me rephrase that: would you say you're full-on lesbian, bi, or just curious and thought 'I'm on the far end of the planet, might as well experiment where people won't know it ever happened'?"

Asami chuckled too. "That's not it. I've known I'm into women since I was 14, and had plenty of opportunities to experiment back home. Never really tried guys, though I did try to have a threesome with a guy and a woman a few years back, but..." She took a deep breath, as she suddenly realized she had to lie to get out of this one. "Well, let's just say I realized I was _way_ too gay for that." She didn't know why she let herself get pushed into that corner. Perhaps it was because being around Korra was just very... _easy_. There wasn't any stress between them, somehow, they just fit together.

Another dry chuckle escaped Korra. "Well, that's one way to put it. I was just curious, but I suppose it's safe to call that 'full-on lesbian', or is that presumptuous?"

"A little, but I suppose it's true."

"Awesome." Another brief silence fell. "Can I ask you how you came out to your parents?"

Asami was a little thrown off her rocker by this question and rolled over, putting a little bit of distance between her and Korra. "Where's that suddenly coming from?"

 _There's another crack._ The businesswoman could clearly see another crack appear in the callgirl's hard outer shell, and it was fairly obvious she regretted asking that question. The only thing she just couldn't figure out was why.

"Just curious," Korra quickly lied, but it was just too obvious. Asami was doubting; she was once again very curious as to what was going in her head, underneath the armbands, and behind her armor in general, but prying might make her close ranks. She decided to go for the golden middle, so she took her hand and gently started caressing it with her thumb, before softly speaking. "Korra, if you don't want to tell me why, you don't have to, but I'd really rather have you be up front about it than that you lie to me."

She sighed and closed her eyes. "You're right," she conceded. "I just... Never had the opportunity to come out to my parents, so I sort of probe, see if there are any definitive do's and don’ts about coming out to one's parents."

Asami slowly nodded. "That's an answer I can live with." Truth be told, she wasn't entirely satisfied with it, because Korra was still hiding parts of it, but it would have to do for now. "Alright, I suppose I can do this." She took a deep breath. "My mother was killed when I was six, so I never had the opportunity to tell her."

Their hands reversed positions, so now it was Korra's thumb caressing Asami's hand, and her expression turned worried. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

Asami sighed. "It's okay. It's been 22 years, you learn to live with it, eventually." She chuckled when she remembered the story she was about to tell. "My father, well, it didn't exactly go smoothly..."

* * *

**14 years ago, Monday afternoon**

* * *

Asami took a deep breath, and sighed. _Yep, this can only end well._ She hesitantly knocked on her the door of her father's study, and he called her in.

"Ah, Asami. What brings you here?" he asked her when she walked in.

"I..." she began, but then decided there was a better way to phrase it. "We need to talk. There's something you should know."

Hiroshi laid down his pen, and folded his hands in front of him. "You sound serious. What is it?" he asked, though not unkindly so.

"Dad..." Asami started again, but then the hesitation kicked back in. She already had a rough idea of how this was going to turn out, and the end results weren't in her favor, at least in her mind. She took another deep breath, and then decided to just go for it. "Dad, I'm gay."

At first, he didn't say anything, but she didn't expect much good from it. He just looked her square in the eyes, eventually looking out the window, before turning back to his daughter. "And how would you know this?"

"Last month, I was with Nalia, she sort of... kissed me, and I really liked it."

He raised a disapproving eyebrow at this. "You mean Nalia, as in, Mr. Kao's daughter, my coworker?"

"Pretty much." Nalia was only a year older than Asami, and had always been a bit of a rebel. When her father got promoted to high up in Future Industries, Nalia suddenly got dragged along to all sorts of boring parties, and it hadn't taken very long for the girls to take a liking to each other. This had of course been to Hiroshi's dismay, but there wasn't an awful lot he could do about it. After all, both he and Kao were prepping their daughters for the business life they would lead later on, but he could also understand that Asami liked hanging out with someone closer to her own age.

That had all changed about three months ago, when Nalia had suddenly declared herself to be bisexual. To emphasize this fact, she'd cut her hair properly short, pierced her nose, and started wearing clothes that were _far_ less conservative.

All these moves made Asami look at her friend in a different light. She had never had much interest in boys, and with Nalia being so much of a 'bad girl', she couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to kiss her. It had taken her quite a while to build up the courage to tell her, but when she did, Nalia wasted no time, and gave Asami her first kiss, while they were standing in Hiroshi's office. That, and there had been several others, since the younger girl liked it more than she wanted to admit, mostly to herself.

Until now.

Her father loudly sighed, and pinched the bridge of his nose, before slicking his hair back. "Asami, I appreciate you coming forward with this. I have always taught you to be honest with me, and you have, so I'll treat this with respect. That being said, I don't like this one bit. In due time, I expect an heir."

She could only stare at him in disbelief. "Dad, I'm 14, don't you think it's a bit early for me to be thinking about children?"

"Not this very moment, but in time. Until then, you'll keep your funny business with girls out of my house at all times. In fact, I expect you to behave properly at all times, so no girls period."

"What?! That's totally unfair!"

He stood up, taking a deep breath. "Asami, I have a business to run and keep up appearances with. I will not have you ruin that good image by doing those kinds of unnatural things and ending up in tabloids."

"Dad!"

" _That's final,_ " he decisively said. "Now, I have to prepare for my trip to Ba Sing Se, I'll be back in time for my party on Friday, and I expect you to be there."

Asami sighed, and wanted to walk away, but her father's voice stopped her. "Do you understand?"

"Yes..." she sighed, not facing him.

"Look at me when you're talking to me," he demanded.

Begrudgingly, Asami turned around. "Yes, I'll be there."

He sat back down in his chair. "Good."

She slammed the door shut behind her, running to her room where she dropped down on her bed. _No fucking way am I just going to accept this._ Sure, this had been more or less what she'd been expecting, but that didn't mean she liked it.

Despite the fact that Asami was trying to fight her tears back, they won out over her. A few of them rolled down her cheeks, and she hated this feeling of helplessness. Her father, her only family, wouldn't accept who she really was.

With a sigh, reach for her schoolbag to pull out her phone (a Nokia 3310, simpler times and all that) and dialed for the one person she knew would be able to help her with this.

"Asami!" Nalia's cheerful voice sounded loud and clear. "How'd it go?"

"About as well as I'd expected. He hated it, and doesn't want me to go out with girls period. Chances are he hates you as well."

It was briefly silent on the other end of the line. "That's bad. How do you feel about it?"

"How do you think? My dad hates me, probably hates you, and says we can't date."

Nalia thought for a moment. "I can help," she ultimately said. "But I'm gonna need you to trust me completely."

"What are you talking about?"

Nalia's voice suddenly took a turn for the sly. "Have you ever thought about getting a piercing?"

* * *

**Friday**

* * *

"Are you sure this is a good idea? I look like a hooker, and a cheap one at that."

Nalia took a step back and smiled. "You want to send a message to your dad, right? Trust me, this will send it."

Asami looked at herself again in the floor-length mirror, almost unable to recognize the person she was looking at. She had undergone a complete make-over in the week Hiroshi had been gone, and the results were nothing short of shocking. First off, Nalia had talked her into a pair of fishnet stockings, a _very_ short miniskirt, a flaming red leather jacket with sleeves that reached down to her elbows, a shirt from some sort of heavy metal band that Asami wouldn't listen to in a million years, and a pair of broad armbands with spikes. Most pressingly though, she had gone for a piercing in her left eyebrow, was suddenly wearing very heavy make-up, most noticeably a dark burgundy lipstick and purple eyeshadow, and she had shaven the left side of her head with her father's clippers, combing the rest of her hair over the other side of her head. _He's going to freakin' flip._

"Yeah, if this isn't going to do it, I don't know what will," Nalia confidently said. "Now I have to go get ready myself, I'll see you at the party, okay?"

"Okay. And whatever you do, don't go for your best outfit, remember?"

A sly smile appeared on Nalia's face. "Of course not, we're going to stick it to our parents together. Teach 'em a lesson they'll never forget, simply put."

Asami smiled too. "See you in a few hours."

It was a brilliant plan, and luck had been on their side. Her father's birthday had been on Wednesday, and he was having a party for it at the office today. He spent the rest of the week away on business, but that was not a strange phenomenon. If anything, the timing was nothing short of perfect for their cunning plan. Hiroshi had called earlier to let them know that he'd have to go straight from the airport to the party, since his plane was delayed by headwind. Asami would therefore be taken to the party by San, their driver.

Ultimately, there was a polite knock on her door. "Miss Sato, are you ready to go to the party?" San asked.

She took one last deep breath, and opened the door, faking a cocky smile. "Of course I am, I've been ready for hours. After you," Asami said, holding out her hand. Much to her surprise, San didn't say a word about her appearance, but he did eye her up from head to toe, raising a very discerning eyebrow. However, his expression didn't change at all.

"Very well, miss," he simply said, and preceeded her to the 1999 navy blue BMW 7 series, opening the door for her, as was normal.

Truth be told, Asami was nervous as hell. Chances were she'd be grounded forever after this, but if she could get her father to be slightly less bigoted with her sexuality, it would be worth it.

At the party, Nalia was waiting for her at the curb, and Asami smiled at the sight of her. She was wearing a denim skirt, not quite as short as Asami's own, but close, deliberately torn stockings, and a top from some other obscure band hanging off one shoulder. So far so good, but her nose piercing and even darker make-up than Asami's left no questions about her intentions: she was going to mess things up tonight. She had dyed her hair, and not just a subtle highlight in a bright color, nope, she'd simply gone for the full monty with a bottle of hydrogen peroxide: it was almost luminescent white. She'd cut her hair fairly short, and made it stick everywhere with the help of a lot of gel.

"She doesn't look like she's up to any good," San said. "Do you want me to drive around the block?"

Asami chuckled. "San, look at me. She's waiting for me, we had agreed to this. Thanks for driving me." She got out of the car before the driver could protest any further, quickly linking hands with Nalia.

"Ready?"

Asami took a deep breath. "Let's do this."

They walked through the doors, but were immediately stopped by a massive man with a clipboard. "Excuse me ladies, this is a private party. I'm gonna have to ask you to leave."

"But I was invited," the younger girl said with a smirk. "After all, it is my father's 55th birthday." The bouncer's eyes damn-near popped out of his skull when he realized who the girls standing in front of him were. " _Miss Sato_?!"

"Correct. Now, could you please let us in?"

He opened and closed his mouth several times, trying to come up with a response, but nothing came. In the end, he simply unhooked the rope, letting them into the party. The people there were mostly familiar to them, as they were all employees of Sato Industries. Many of them had gone straight here after finishing their work. Nearly all of them looked up at the two punk girls walking in, but no one had the indecency to make rude remarks about their outfits, or the fact that they were holding hands. Some of them recognized Asami, and shook her hand to congratulate her with her father, but none of them managed _not_ to throw a discerning look her way.

She and Nalia made their way to the buffet, helping themselves to whatever it was that people there decided was fit to serve at a party. Not long after they had arrived, applause rose from the crowd, and Hiroshi took the stage to give a speech.

It was everything Asami had expected: some utterly generic speech about how great the company was doing, how the people here made that possible, thanking them all for being here to celebrate this day with him, etc. Not a single surprise, in short.

After a while though, she still hadn't seen her father up close and personal, which meant that he would probably start looking for her soon. This was the time to strike.

She nudged Nalia against the arm. "Let's go," she said, and pulled her towards the wall, pressing her against it.

"Since when do you take charge?" the older girl asked, a cocky smirk on her face. Before Asami realized what was happening, she had been spun around, and Nalia was now clearly calling the shots. "Besides, this was what you wanted, right?" she asked, quickly leaning in closer.

Asami could feel her hot breath brush past her lips, and that was essentially all the motivation she needed. She leaned in, catching Nalia's lips with her own, and she made it worthwhile.

This was probably their best kiss so far. Nalia had been Asami's first, and they had practiced since then. But now, here, in the middle of all these stiff and boring people, they had to make it good, and they did. Asami wasted no time pushing her tongue into Nalia's mouth, and that kicked off the fight for dominance over the kiss. The older girl was currently winning that, but neither of them cared.

"What is going on here?" Asami suddenly heard her father's voice break through the air. A sly grin appeared on Nalia's face. "Go get him," she whispered into her ear.

The older girl pulled back, and a coy smile appeared on Asami's face as she turned to her father. "Hey dad. Happy birthday."

At first, all color drained from his face, and he was unable to say anything. After about three seconds though, his expression to one of unabashed rage, and he turned as red as Asami's jacket. Without saying anything, he took her by the arm, dragging her through the first set of doors and into his office, decisively slamming it shut behind them. "WHAT IN THE NAME OF HOLY FUCK WERE YOU THINKING ABOUT?!" he yelled. Asami was pretty certain people at the party would have heard that, but didn't think her father was one to care right now.

 _Welp, you got his attention._ "You set terms for me I never agreed with. I think it's time for a re-negotiation."

"By dressing up like a prostitute and embarrassing me in front of my entire company?!"

"It's worth a shot." He leaned on his desk with his fists and took a deep breath to calm himself down, but it didn't work very well. In the end, he smacked some knick-knack across the room, and it exploded against the wall into a thousand pieces. "And apparently, it worked."

"Mouthing off against me isn't going to help you now, Asami."

"Dad, I don't think I'm asking for something _that_ unreasonable. All I want is to be able to go on dates like every girl would."

"Girls aren't supposed to date other girls, I thought I made that clear."

Her sly grin came back to her, though it was only a façade of confidence hiding a mountain of nerves. "And I think I just proved the opposite. Besides, what do you think we did all week long when we were planning this? Our homework?"

Hiroshi pinched the bridge of his nose. "That's it, I'm never leaving you at home alone again. I will _not_ have you humiliate me like this in front of my company."

"Exactly, and if you want to stop that from happening again, you'll give me more freedom. I'll keep it away from you and the company at all times. That way, I don't have to lie about it, and you won't be embarrassed like this again."

He took another deep breath, and sighed. "If I find that you're not completely honest about this, the old rules apply again. You get one chance, that is an end of it."

"I can live with that, thanks dad." She was about to walk out of the door again, when her father stopped her again.

"What is _that_?" he rudely asked, pointing to the small ring in her eyebrow.

"Eyebrow piercing, cool right?"

Hiroshi let his head hang, and sighed deeply. "If that thing isn't out of there by this time tomorrow, I'll yank it out with a pair of pliers. _Understand_?"

Asami gently brushed his hand off her shoulder. "Don't worry about it, I'll get it done."

"Considering what you did here tonight, I am worried."

_Good point._

This time, her father preceded her out again to the party, talking on his cell phone. "San, get the car out front immediately, you have to take Asami home. I don't want her walking around like this any longer." He turned to his daughter again. "And young lady, you are grounded for a month."

She sighed, but nodded. "Fair enough."

* * *

**Back in the present**

* * *

Korra was laughing, which was a surprisingly pleasant sound. Clear and bright, not a hint of shame in there.

- _For fucks' sake, focus._

"Somehow, I'm having a hard time picturing you with one side of you head shaven. Isn't that like a porn star's haircut?"

Asami laughed too. "Probably, but my 14 year-old self was too innocent to think of it like that. Besides, I was something of a front-runner with that."

"Worth it?"

"Absolutely."

Korra chuckled again. "I'd pay folding money to see you like that, but I don't think that's going to happen any time soon again, is it?"

The businesswoman laughed, and shook her head. "Nope, not a chance. My board already hates me, and I don't need to throw that on top as well." She dramatically yawned, and realized she'd spent quite a while telling the story of how she came out of the closet. "I think it's about time we went to sleep. Got a big day tomorrow, and I might need to put your wisdom into practice."

"What wisdom?" the callgirl asked with a quizzical look on her face.

"'Men are idiots. Show enough cleavage, and when you say jump they say how high," Asami quoted. "That wisdom."

She laughed again. "Men giving you a hard time?"

"Business," Asami coolly replied. "Mild chances of success, but it's worth a shot."

At this, Korra laughed even harder. "In that case, you'd better get a good night's sleep. Now roll over, then I can keep you properly warm."

The businesswoman chuckled, yawned again, and complied. "Don't mind if I do..." she whispered into a pillow, reaffirming to herself that Korra is just as nice and warm when she _is_ wearing a shirt.

* * *

**Monday**

* * *

Korra's grip was nothing if not firm, she'd have to hand that to the callgirl. _She says she can bench-press 180 pounds, and I believe it alright._

"Korra..." Asami says, trying to nudge here awake. "I need to get ready..."

"Hnngg..." she groans, clearly not happy with this. "Mornings... are... _evil_..."

A dry chuckle escaped from the businesswoman's lips. "Come on, you big goofball, I gotta go take a shower. Some of us have to be productive today."

"Excuse me?" Korra imitated Asami's mock-offended tone from last night. "I'm gonna hit the gym in the afternoon. Gotta keep up the guns," she said, flexing her impressive biceps.

_*Drool*_

- _Don't make me say it._

_You don't have to..._

"If you have a few hours in the afternoon, feel free to join me."

Asami wriggled free, and got out of the bed, trying to suppress the cold shivers running down her spine. "Thanks, but I think I'm gonna decline. The hotel has a gym, and I'd be screwing over my own company if I didn't use it."

The callgirl let out a mock laugh. "That thing down here in the basement? That's not a gym, it's a place where a bunch of old farts can feel good about themselves more than they usually do. That place smells like flowers, and a gym is supposed to smell like sweat and blood."

" _Blood_?"

"From the sparring ring."

"That's disgusting."

"It works." She rolled off her side of the bed, taking a pen and a notepad from the nightstand and scribbled a few things on it. "This is my cell and the number of the gym, for when I can't hear it, in case you change your mind."

A genuine smile appeared on Asami's face. "Thanks Korra, I'll keep that in mind. Let me get you your money."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold it right there. My money?"

This confused Asami. "You do this to get paid, right?"

She looked kind of insulted at this. "Sato, I told you last night, I'm here out of my own free will, and I'm not taking any pity-money. I earn my living, every step of the way, and the only time you get to pay me, is when you call Wushu, followed by me fucking your brains out."

It was briefly silent, and the businesswoman realized what a bitch she'd just been by thinking Korra was only doing this because she wanted to get paid. "You're right, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have assumed that."

Korra nodded. "Well, in your defense, it's not a stretch, I know plenty of girls who would just take the fake cash and be on their way. It's just... What I told you last night was true, Asami. I genuinely like you, and what I did was a gesture of friendship, something I refuse to be paid for."

This made Asami's insides bubble up in excitement. _She really did mean it._ It made perfect sense. Why else would she spend a night she could have been making money with Asami, which ended up costing her money? "That... that's really good of you, Korra. Thank you."

Her frown turned around, turning into a small but very genuine smile. "You're welcome." It was at about that point that she must have realized she was still only standing there in her sleeping shirt and her underwear, because she suddenly reach for the chair behind her, slipping back into her sweats. "There we go, perfect."

Asami rolled her eyes. "You look like a true fashion statement."

The callgirl blew a raspberry, raising an unconvinced eyebrow. "You don't get to judge until you're more fashionable than me," she said, glancing at Asami's own sweats.

"Fair enough, but I'm actually on my way to do something about it."

Korra sighed. "Yeah, I should be going too."

"You're more than welcome to join me for breakfast," Asami hopefully offered.

"Nah, I should be getting home. Thanks for the offer though. You go take a shower, I'll see myself out."

A pang of sadness went through the businesswoman. "Alright. I guess I'll see you again at some point."

Korra smiled. "I'd like that. See you later, Asami."

She shut the door of the shower behind her, getting started on her typical morning rituals. She knew she'd have to look her best if she would even have a vague hope of changing Unalaq's mind. The businesswoman thanked her lucky stars that her hair tended to be cooperative, and it let itself dry in just the way she wanted to, and she put it up in a neat bun.

But now came the tricky part: what to wear. Asami knew she'd have to cheat somehow, so she only went with a mild push-up bra, since she already was reasonably voluptuous by nature, _but hey, can't hurt your chances by lending nature a hand._ To bring it out, she went with a sleeveless ruby dress, topped off with loose black blazer, drawing any onlooker's eyes to her less-than-modest cleavage. _There we go, you look like a pornstar on her way to a job interview. Great job._

 _Oh shut up, it's not_ that _bad._

Before long, she was on her way to the Bentayga, waiting to be driven to the Palace through the deep, fresh snow. _Where the hell are they putting all that stuff?_

It went roughly the same as last time: someone picked her up at the front entrance, and she was led to the Chief's office, where she shook hands with him again.

After some brief small talk, Asami decided to go for it. "Chief Unalaq, allow me to get down to business, but I've been informed over the weekend that you've been having second thoughts about the shipyard. Is this true?"

"It is," he softly spoke. "The Amaroks have been ruling these lands since the Great War, and they have rarely sold pieces of it, especially valuable pieces along the coast. I'm having my doubts about doing that now."

Asami was a little disappointed. "But we've had a productive conversation last week. What changed?"

"I've had the time to think it over, and read your contract again. The main thing I don't like is that the Tribe only has 25% ownership of the shipyard. You will be able to decide all the hows and whats without my input."

"That also entails that you only carry 25% of the risk. If it's a flop, you won't lose everything, and if it's a success, you'll have helped create hundreds, if not thousands of jobs."

He thought a little longer about this. "But all of those jobs would be in service of Future Industries, a company that isn't based in the Southern Water Tribe. It's based on the other side of the planet. In the end, you would profit most from it."

"That is true, but we'd carry the biggest risk as well, as we would pay for 65% of the costs, and only gain 60% percent ownership, as was negotiated with Varrick Global and you. 40% of the ownership would stay right here in the South, 25 for you, 15 for Varrick."

He stood up, walking to the window. "Look out there, Miss Sato. We have survived every brutal winter the pole could throw at us, every invasion, even when the Fire Nation nearly wiped us out, but we bounced back. We adapt, and our sense of community holds us together through anything. My people have been self-sufficient for centuries, so give me a reason to change that now."

Asami eyed him up suspiciously. "Chief, with all due respect, there are no companies capable of bankrolling a project this big here in the South. And in in the long run, it doesn't matter who owns the land, because we all profit, your people most of all. You need Future Industries for this, and my company won't be satisfied with doing this as a third-party contractor."

"Then I'm afraid we no longer have a deal."

Asami stood up as well, and was now seeing eye to eye with the rather slender chief, who was starting to get on her nerves. "You are making a huge mistake, Chief Unalaq."

He silently stared her straight in the eye, and then walked over to his desk, pressing a button on his phone. "Misu, show my guest out please." The businesswoman didn't wait for his assistant, and instead made for the door herself. "And Miss Sato?" he stopped before she could walk out, so she did turn around to face him again. "If you dress to impress, you're going to need more than a low neckline and a push-up bra."

"You noticed?" she snidely threw at him.

"Even politicians have imagination."

Asami now felt her blood boil. He insulted her company, her intentions, _and_ her fashion sense in a ten-minute conversation. "Goodbye, Chief Unalaq." With large paces, she made her way back to the Bentley 4x4, where Koda was waiting for her return.

"Whereto, Miss Sato?"

"Hotel," she curtly answered, not feeling like making pleasant small talk with the happy-go-lucky driver. Asami dug through her purse for her phone and when she found it, dialed for her assistant. "Nikita, get a hold of the board. Tell them the deal with the shipyard is off, Unalaq changed his mind."

"What happened?"

"Not sure. You tell them, I'm gonna go tell Varrick the bad news, maybe he can do something about damage control."

Nikita was briefly silent. "Will do, Miss Sato."

Asami sighed as she hung up, and prepared to call Varrick. _This should be fun._

Once she got back to her room, she wasn't feeling much better. She spent over two hours trying to do paperwork that had been stacking up over the past week, but only got about half done of what she would be able to if she was actually focused. Sick of the whole enterprise, she threw her pen away, and groaned loudly while falling back in her chair. The frustration was reigning supreme in her head, and she'd need a way to get rid of it.

That's when her eye fell on the notepad Korra left there earlier. The gym seemed like a good way to do that, and even though she hated to admit it, Korra was right. The place in the basement wasn't a gym, it was just a room with treadmills and home trainers, not really a place to vent some frustration.

Hesitantly, she took her phone from her purse again, and dialed the number on the pad, but it went straight to voicemail. "Hey there, you've reached the voicemail of Korra, I'm not here, but feel free to leave a message!" Even though it was a machine talking, it was surprisingly pleasant to hear her voice. _What did I tell you about focusing?_

_Yeah, yeah, I know._

She had more luck with the other number. Katara's Gym, was the name of the place, apparently. She quickly got an address, threw some stuff in a small bag she brought with her for contingencies, and walked down to once again get Koda behind the wheel.

He was more than a little surprised when she told him where she wanted to go, as the gym wasn't exactly located in the best part of town. He pulled up right in front of it, clearly uncomfortable with driving a 300.000 yuan Bentley into this neighborhood, where Asami suspected the average cost of a car was about... well, chances were a lot of these cars weren't bought, but stolen. For that reason, she told Koda to head back to the hotel, and she'd call him again when she was done.

The gym itself wasn't _that_ bad, but only when compared to the rest of the neighborhood. 'Katara's Gym and Fitness Center', was what it said on the outside, which Asami though may be just a touch too much. Inside, there was a lovely old lady sitting at a desk. "Welcome to the gym, how can I help you?" she immediately asked when Asami stepped in.

"I uhh... I'm looking for someone. A woman, roughly my age, 5 foot 7, short hair, tattoos, know who I mean?"

She clapped her hands together. "Oh, you mean Korra? Of course I know her! Lovely girl, she's inside, already started the workout. Want me to take you to her?"

"That would be nice." She got out from behind her desk, and led Asami into the gym itself, which did actually smell like sweat and blood. _Guess she was onto something._

When she spotted her, it was impossible to contain the surge of heat coming from between her legs, because _holy. Fucking. Hell_. Korra was doing her bench presses, lying flat on her back under the rack to hold up the dumb-bell, while the beads of sweat were running down her tattooed arms, accentuating her muscles which were straining under the weight. Her chest rising and falling was timed perfectly with the dumb-bell going up and down, and the drops running over the locked heart on her chest looked nothing short of _amazing_. Her short hair clung in dark strands to her neck, and the fact that her attire consisted of just a blue sports bra, her forearms wrapped in bands, a short pair of yoga pants, and a pair of trainers didn't really help Asami's sanity. Her well-defined abs were covered with a sheen of sweat as well, making the guns on her waist appear as high-gloss, only adding to the callgirl's level of attraction.

- _Remember to keep your mouth shut, otherwise you can wave-surf out of here on your drool._

_Yeah, yeah, no need to mention me keeping my legs closed._

The old lady snapping her fingers brought Asami back into the real world. "You alright there, love? You zoned out for a minute."

"Yeah, I..." _Smooth and quick, like the good old days, come on._ "I'm fine, just have a lot on my mind."

Suddenly, a thoughtful look appeared on the old lady's face. "You look familiar, do I know you from something?"

"Red!" Korra's voice suddenly pierced the air. She had put her dumb-bell away, and jumped up from her bench. "I see you've met Katara. Katara, this is Red, I work with her from time to time."

"Ah," Katara said, looking like only half of her bought Korra's excuse. "Anyway, Korra, you can show her around, right?"

"Yeah, I got this," she said, waving a dismissive hand around. "Thanks Katara."

With slow paces, she pit-patted off, back to her desk at the entrance, while Korra took over.

"So..." Asami opened. "Red?"

The callgirl simply shrugged. "Color that suits you. Plus, I figured you wouldn't want Katara to figure who you really are. Anyway, that's in the past. What made you stop by?"

"I..." She sighed. "My meeting this morning went badly, and I haven't been able to concentrate. Got something for that?"

Korra's trademark grin came back to her face. "Yes I do, it's called a punching bag, but if you're going to do that, I hope you're planning on wearing something other than a pair of 1500 yuan boots."

Asami held up her bag with gym clothes. "Don't worry, I came prepared. All I need is a place to change, got one of those?

"Sure." Korra led her to a changing room, and the businesswoman prepared herself properly. _Hair in ponytail - check, red work-out shirt - check, wrapped hands - check, trainers - check, that little black pair of shorts that makes your already long legs look longer than they really are and your ass stand out - check._

- _Gee, wonder what that's for..._

_Oh, shush._

When Asami stepped out of the changing room again, Korra was waiting for her with her trademark slanted grin on her face. "That's more like it. Come on, punching bags of the gym prepare."

They made their way to one, and Korra stepped behind the bag to hold it in place. "Let 'em have it. Just imagine it's the face of the guy you had your meeting with."

Asami smiled, and that actually turned out to be good advice. Picturing Unalaq on the bag wasn't difficult, and throwing her first right hook caught even Korra off guard. "Holy hell Red, where'd you learn to punch like that?"

Her smile only grew as she continued throwing punches at the heavy bag, and it helped in getting out her frustrations. "I know," she smirked in between punches. "I told you, I've been taking self-defense classes since I was six." The callgirl braced for the next volley, all of which were good. They came faster, harder, and Asami felt her anger slowly slipping. She ended her round with a massive backwards mid-air kick, making Korra step back to keep her balance.

The businesswoman was panting and smiling at same time, since this turned out to be an excellent way to vent. "Thanks for the advice Korra," she said once she'd caught her breath. "This really _was_ what I needed."

"Told you so," Korra smirked, and then she squinted. "You know what else you need? To go running with me for a few miles. Let's hit the treadmills."

- _You know you've got better things to do than to indulge on some schoolgirl-like crush._

_What? I need to keep in shape, being in the South is no excuse._

- _That's a very convenient excuse to spend time with her, though._

_Maaaaaybe..._

Running with Korra turned into something of a race, who can complete one mile the quickest. (It was Korra.) Asami spent the best part of the afternoon in the gym with Korra, working on her condition, doing exercises, and the callgirl even managed to talk her into bench pressing. Sure, she only managed about 80 pounds, but it was a start, according to Korra. "If you want guns like these," she said while flexing, "it just takes time, patience, and a lot of reps."

In the end though, Asami was tired, and figured she should get back to her hotel, and actually try to finish her paperwork. She headed for the showers, but Korra stopped her. "I wouldn't go in there, if I were you."

"Gotta shower somehow, I stink."

"Probably, but the heater for the women's shower is broken, so the water is cold, and I do mean _cold_."

 _Just fucking brilliant._ "So what do we do? Hijack the men's showers?"

"Not unless you wanted to be 'accidentally' groped by Moe, Curly, and Larry over there," Korra said with air quotations, while nodding to three old men on home trainers, feasting their eyes on Asami and Korra. "You can take a shower at my place."

"Uhh... Don't you think that's a little... I don't know, inappropriate?"

The callgirl chuckled. "You've been in more inappropriate places with me than my shower." _Meh, good point._ "Get your things, it's close." Asami quickly gathered her clothes from the changing room, and Korra was waiting outside for her, next to a door that said 'Private' on it.

"You live here in the gym?"

"Katara lets me rent the loft. It's cheap, and a gym membership is included."

It made the businesswoman smile. "Benefits, I suppose."

"Something like that." She preceded her up the narrow stairwell, only to end up in front of another door, this one locked. Asami only momentarily got distracted by Korra's shapely rear, having an almost hypnotizing sway as she worked those toned legs up the stairs...

- _Oh my **God** , how pathetic are you?!_

_Okay, I deserved that._

"Welcome to my humble home." She threw the door open, and Asami took a good look around. It wasn't very high, and it was only sparsely furnished, with an old couch, a CRT television, _thought those had all been redirected to the scrapheap_ , a tiny kitchen unit, a dresser, and a small double bed. There was a single door to their left, which Asami assumed to be the bathroom. In what she had to be typical Southern style, it was a pleasant room to be, despite being not very warm. It had a very homey feel to it. "It ain't much, but it does the trick," the callgirl remarked.

"Don't be silly, it's cozy," the businesswoman said, taking a closer look at the pelt in front of the couch.

"Damn," Korra muttered while looking out the window. "Maybe you're gonna have to skip showering here and get home pronto, there's hail and hellfire on the way."

"What?" Asami walked to the window as well, and realized she hadn't been kidding. The sky ahead was black as the night, only it was two in the afternoon, which could only mean one thing: bad weather. "I... I can't, I told my driver to go back to the hotel. Do you think he can still make it?"

After a pause for thought, Korra shook her head. "Not to and fro, and driving in weather like that is suicide. You can stay here for the time being, because it looks like I don't have to work a shift tonight either."

Asami shivered from the cold, but smiled nonetheless. "Thank you Korra. That's very gracious." _And very convenient._

_Shut up._

"That's okay," she smiled back. "You get in there now," she said, nodding to the shower. "You look like you're freezing."

* * *

_Well guys, fourth chapter, hope you liked it. There will be more of Asami's story later on, and part of Korra's story is coming in the next chapter. Take care!_


	5. Bed Time Story

**Monday evening**

* * *

"Hope you like noodles," Korra jovially said when Asami stepped out of the bathroom again, dressed in a mix of her leggings from earlier and a loose leisure-sweater, but she'd let her hair down instead of putting it back in a bun.

It stunned Asami. "You made dinner?"

"Nah, this is just a snack for you to warm up while I go take a shower as well. There's arctic hen in the oven, it's quite good, and great for post-workout food. Katara made it for me." She rummaged around in her dresser for a bit, taking out a clothes that looked like they were solely for comfort, not fashion. "Make yourself at home," she said before going into the shower. The blizzard had started, and Asami was glad that she had listened to Korra's advice of not calling Koda over with the car: she could barely see 10 feet out the window. Snow was quickly piling up on the corners of the window, which was being battered by hail at the same time.

The businesswoman took the bowl of noodles from the counter, and started walking around the room, taking a look around for anything that could give a hint to Korra's past. Much to her surprise, there weren't any keepsakes. Not a single picture of parents, friends, past pets, or really anything in the house that would have any real sentimental value. This was especially strange since Korra was from the Water Tribe, who typically hold their families very close.

She walked over to the dresser, but hesitated. _This is crossing a line. Taking a look at things on display is one thing, but actively going through her stuff?_

_It could shed some light on her, though..._

Asami sighed, and decided against searching through the closet. With a sigh, she plonked herself down on the old couch, and flicked on the television, looking to see if she could find anything on the weather. "A blizzard is currently trapping the capital city of Ushuaia," the news anchor said. "Authorities are warning everyone to stay indoors, and not leave until the gale-force winds die down again, which is predicted to happen around midnight. We'll keep you updated as this storm rolls by, this is Anvik Ninuk for SWT News, good night."

"They really know how to sell a blizzard, don't they?" the callgirl said, suddenly appearing next to the businesswoman, scaring the life out of her.

"Christ in heaven Korra, will you stop that?!"

"Stop what?" she asked with a pouty lower lip, pretending to be innocence itself.

_Goddamn, that's cute._

- _Red alert! Red alert! Falling for a hooker is a bad idea!_

_But look at her!_

- _Oh for crying out loud._

"Scaring me half to death," Asami replied, pretending to be angry.

Korra laughed. "It's just too easy. Anyway, want some hen? Apparently, it tastes like chicken."

"'Apparently'?"

"Well, you have to make do with what you got, and here in the South Pole, it's arctic hen. They tried chickens once, and they all froze to death, so yeah, this is what we got."

Asami got curious. "You've never been outside the South Pole?"

The callgirl shook her head. "Nah. My parents..." She hesitated, and Asami could see the cracks creeping over her façade. Perhaps it was because she was in a setting that she's familiar with, that she'd let her armor down more easily. "My parents never took me far away from home, my dad was always busy, so we never really got around to it, and after I started this, I haven't been able to."

_To pry or not to pry, that is the question..._ The businesswoman sighed. It was true, Korra was now finally opening up, but Asami knew that if she pushed the issue too much, the armor would be back in place before she could say 'I didn't mean to pry.'

"I suppose you'd know a thing or two about that too, wouldn't you?" the callgirl asked.

Asami chuckled. "Yeah, my dad was always busy too. I guess it's why I became good at mechanics: it was the only time we just got to do something together. Ever since I was old enough to distinguish a hammer from a screwdriver, I worked with him. We must have restored a dozen cars together."

The way Korra squeezed her hand told Asami enough: she knew the next part. No surprise there, his whole history was easily found on Google. "How old were you when he died?"

The businesswoman's face hardened. "He didn't die, he was murdered. I was 15."

"I'm sorry," the callgirl whispered. "You must miss him."

Asami sighed. "In a strange way, I miss my mom more. My dad and I had been growing apart for a while when it happened, and me coming out to him drove the wedge between us a lot further." She took a deep breath. "Still, he was my last remaining family, so yeah, I do miss him." It fell silent between them, but it wasn't awkward. Korra was still holding the businesswoman's hand, gently pulling them closer together.

A loud rattle broke the fragile and vulnerable atmosphere that had formed between them. "What was that?" Asami asked, unable to find the source.

Korra sighed. "That was the fuse box, so grab your phone, because it's gonna go dark in three... two... one..." Right on cue, the lights and television went out, leaving the small loft in complete darkness. "The wiring of this building isn't exactly top-notch, so I always keep a few candles around here somewhere." Asami reached for her purse, and managed to find her phone, using it as a flashlight.

"Come on, bring that thing over here," the callgirl gestured her over to the dresser. Giving her a bit of extra light, Korra soon found a box of candles and a lighter, but Asami spotted something else. It was cleverly arranged, with one part leisure, the other part professional. _Also known as 'slutty'._ But there was one thing standing out: an old high-school style backpack, tucked away in the bottom corner of the dresser. It clearly didn't fit in with everything else, so it had her curious.

She made a mental note of it, but didn't press the issue, and instead helped Korra to light a few candles around the apartment, giving them at least enough light to move around without bumping into everything. "How often does the power go out?" the businesswoman asked.

"Every time there's a storm," Korra shrugged. "I know it sucks, but like I said, rent is dirt cheap. Beggars can't be choosers, after all. She never really talks about it, but I think Katara is losing money on this place. It used to belong to her brother, and it went to her after he died, so chances are that she has a sentimental connection to it."

Asami nodded. "I know the feeling." She briefly paused. "What do we do now?"

"Hope for the power to come back on."

This made her laugh. "If you're so sure it's the fuse box, I could take a look at it. I majored in mechanical engineering."

"I wouldn't recommend that, the fuse box is on the roof, so in minus 20 and gale force winds, you'd freeze your fingers off."

_Welp, so much for helping her._ Asami sighed. "So where does that leave us?"

Korra held up a deck of cards. "Poker?"

The next few hours were spent in the relative darkness playing all sorts of card games. At first, the callgirl suggested strip poker, but Asami had to decline, as she was already quite cold, so they just played for the honor. They went through a few more, but in the end, the cold became too much to bear for the businesswoman.

She shivered, and Korra rolled her eyes, before walking over to the dresser. "If you were so cold, you could have just said so." She rummaged around in the closet for a bit, and tossed Asami a hoodie. "Put that on, it should help."

"Thanks," she replied in surprise. Because of the callgirl's broader build, the hoodie was slightly too big, but that didn't matter. It was comfy and warm, and had the welcome earthly scent of Korra in it.

- _You have **got** to get a grip, and fast._

_Alright, **FINE** , I admit it: I may just like her more than I should. Happy now?_

- _Well, it's a start. Still doesn't address the issue that you're smitten for a hooker, but let's take things one step at a time._

Out of nowhere, the lights came back on as suddenly as they went out. At first, Asami was glad that she was able to see again, but after a few moments, she started missing the coziness of the dark. Still, this at least gave her and Korra the opportunity to reheat Katara's arctic hen, which actually did taste a lot like chicken. It was a late dinner, the hen was a little dry from being reheated twice, Asami was cold and sitting on a sofa that had seen better days, with the plate on her lap, watching a re-run of Friends, and she would choose this a million times over eating something fancy at the hotel restaurant by herself.

"Tell me something Korra: are you this amicable with all your clients, or am I just lucky?" She asked after they had both finished their hen.

She chuckled. "Nope, you're simply in luck. Unlike nearly all of my clients, I actually like you." The callgirl briefly paused, and a big smile appeared on her face. "Plus, with your right hook, you can knock my lights out. I'm kind of obliged to let you stay here," she teased.

Asami smiled, and quickly raked her mind for a witty comeback. "I doubt I can beat 'all four elements'."

"Maybe, maybe not, but one thing is for sure: I don't want to be the guy whose face you imagined on that punching bag." She fell silent for a bit. "Who was it?"

"I'm not sure I should be telling you about the deal, I don't think my company would approve."

"Just the who, not the what," she shrugged. "Perhaps it's a familiar name, that would be funny. Besides, even if you did tell me particulars, I probably wouldn't understand a damn thing of it."

Asami made a 'fair enough'-face, and smiled. "Well, the man I imagined on the bag was your _esteemed_ Chief Unalaq." This stirred something in the callgirl, because the way her face contorted didn't spell good news. "Korra? You okay there?"

She hesitated, trying to pull herself back together. "I... Yeah, I'm alright," she said, but it was plain as day that she was lying.

_It's now or never._ "We both know that's a lie. What is really going on?"

The callgirl sighed, and sat down on the foot of her bed. "It's Unalaq." She took a deep breath, preparing for the worst. "Asami, he... he's my uncle."

It hit the businesswoman like a ton of bricks. " _WHAT_?!"

"On my father's side," Korra continued. "My last name is Amarok, just like the Chief's."

Asami was completely flabbergasted. "You're not making any sense. Why on earth would he live in a fucking palace, and you have to sell yourself to make a living? Can't he spare a room or something?"

A dry chuckle escaped the callgirl. "Well, I suppose he could, but he won't. He's the reason I have to do this in the first place." She chuckled again. "Why am I even telling you this? I barely know you!"

The businesswoman sat down next to Korra, and took her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "Korra, you can trust me. You can tell me as much as you're comfortable with, but please be honest with me. I am genuinely starting to care for you, and I hope that feeling is mutual."

"It is. And I suppose it's only fair, you've told me things about yourself too, right?"

A pang of guilt went through Asami. _You haven't even told her the half of it. Hell, you've barely lifted a tip of the veil when held against what you've really done._ "I have, just... just not everything."

Korra looked up and smiled. "Well, that would be a bit much to ask." She took another deep breath. "It all started with my dad. He was the oldest, and therefore, first in line for the throne, eventually. The successor never really gets a lot of benefits here in the South, he has to make his own living. My dad chose to go into the military, and he was fairly successful. His title may have had a helping hand in it, since he made it to the rank of general by the time he was 40. He was popular too. Charismatic, handsome, family man, the whole nine yards, so a lot of people liked him, and thought he would be a good successor to my grandfather. Unalaq, well, he was none of those things, but he was clever, cunning, and above all else, ruthless. He devised a plot, one in which he would become chief, and my parents would be out of his way without people asking too many questions."

Telling the story was clearly doing a number on Korra, Asami could tell that much. She shifted their position slightly, so that she could wrap an arm around the callgirl's shoulder, pulling her _that_ much closer.

"He planted evidence that my parents were smuggling drugs in their storage unit, then reported it to the police. I mean everything, drugs, manifests, money. Extremely thorough. In reality, that stuff had been seized by the police earlier, and Unalaq had bribed police officers to give it to him, and he'd also paid off judges, journalists, all in service of the former: making sure the case he had against my parents was rock solid. Most of the time, my parents were each other's alibi, and that doesn't really prove anything when they're both being accused. When they ultimately were arrested after the raid, my uncle already had everything in place, and it took no time at all for the court to sentence both of them to 20 years in prison."

By now, the businesswoman had pulled them both down onto the bed, with Korra resting her head on Asami's chest. She was gently running a hand through her hair, and had her other hand in front of her mouth in shock. "Christ, that's horrible! And Unalaq got away with it?"

The callgirl nodded. "By cleverly pointing journalists in the right direction for him, he could play the media and steer public opinion, effectively cancelling out my father's earlier popularity. For the judging, even if the case was shaky, he'd bribed the judges anyway, and none of it had his fingerprints on it."

Asami hesitated again, but decided to go for it now that Korra was finally opening up. "What happened to you?"

She stayed quiet for a long time, and eventually, a quiet sob escaped her. The businesswoman wrapped her arms around Korra a little tighter, and pressed a soft kiss on top of her head. It took her quite a while of murmuring comforting words, but in the end, she managed to calm the callgirl down again.

"I'm sorry, Asami, it's just, it all comes up again."

Asami gently cupped Korra's face, nudging her up so they could see eye to eye. "You don't worry about that," she softly said, wiping her cheeks dry with the end of her sleeve. "Tonight, _you_ get to let it all out."

The callgirl's ice-blue eyes displayed a whole range of emotions, from gratitude to sadness as she recounted the whole thing, so after another deep breath, she continued. "I was 16 at the time. Normally, you're supposed to be put in with the closest living relatives, but that list was short for me. My grandfather, who was basically a dead man walking, and my uncle, who wanted me out of the way as well. He went out of his way to make sure I didn't end up in his custody, so I was placed in foster care, but for reasons I couldn't figure out at the time, they were on the other side of the south pole. I was also moved around a lot, going from one family to the next, never staying anywhere more than, I dunno, three days? This lasted until my parents were convicted, and the first thing they did, was ship them off to the Northern Water Tribe to serve out their sentence."

This confused the businesswoman. "That doesn't make any sense. Why would Unalaq do that?"

"Well, in the official statement, it's to prevent them from going on with their criminal enterprises from inside, but in reality, it was so that they couldn't stir up any trouble about me. If I couldn't contact them, they wouldn't have any ways to make a big fuss in the media. I was pulled from my last foster family two days after they were convicted, and flown back to Ushuaia from the other side of the Tribe. They just dumped me in the Industrial Zone. All I had were the clothes on my back, and about 30 yuans that my foster parents had given me before I left. They knew those guys weren't up to any good. The rest was confiscated by the state, claiming it was drug money. The guys who came for me, they warned me they would kill me if I tried to seek attention, and I still don't think it was an idle threat."

She paused for a while, but Asami could tell she was just gearing up to tell the rest. "Those 30 yuans lasted me about three days. After that, I didn't know what to. I had no friends, no family, no place to stay, nothing." Another small sob escaped her, and Asami tightened her grip again. "I tried to beg people for money, and after a while, was approached by a man who was willing to give me 50 yuans. I knew what he was after, but I didn't have any choice." She closed her eyes, and the businesswoman ran her fingers through Korra's hair again in an attempt to comfort her. "I sold my virginity for 50 bucks, to a man three times my age. I didn't even know his name. After that, I had money again for a while, but that soon ran out, so it started again from the top. Repeat that for over a decade, and I landed on your doorstep."

It stayed silent for a long time between them, occasionally broken by a quiet sob from the callgirl. Of course Asami had heard of the case back when it was being conducted, but she didn't really think anything of it. Hell, it seemed like a fairly normal case, given the corrupt nature of offcials in the Water Tribes. Unalaq had stepped up against this, or so he claimed at least, because the businesswoman knew how difficult it was to get anything done without the Chief's seal of approval. She was currently at the receiving end of that.

"Korra..." she eventually spoke up. "I... I am _so_ sorry about all of this."

"It's not your fault, Asami, it's Unalaq's. It has given me a goal: I want to visit my parents. That's why I'm still doing this, waiting tables just doesn't cut it. I need to pay a smuggler to get me out of the South Pole, because I don't have a passport. That's gonna be fucking expensive, so I have to save up, and then I also have to survive in the North."

The businesswoman stayed silent. Korra was too proud to accept her money, but Asami knew that plan to be shaky at best. Saying that wouldn't do the callgirl any good though, so instead, she just continued cradling her, patiently waiting for her to stop crying.

It took a long time for that to happen, and when it did, Asami spoke softly. "Thank you, Korra."

She looked up. "For what?"

"For opening up to me."

Korra relaxed back into Asami's grip, and for once, the callgirl feel asleep in the businesswoman's arms.

* * *

_Ahh, it feels good to get Korra's story out. At least part of it, as the more eagle-eyed reader will have noticed that there is no explanation about her armbands. Those same readers will have already picked up on Asami's past, hinted at in the first chapter. As always: all will be revealed in good time._

_I know this chapter is a lot shorter than normal, and at first, I was going to add Tuesday to this as well, but it just felt done, and adding to it now felt wrong somehow. The story of how Unalaq beat down Korra deserved its own chapter. Look on the bright side, though: shorter wait between chapters for you._

_As always, please do leave a review, they are hugely entertaining. Take care people!_

 


	6. Background Check

**Tuesday**

* * *

When the morning came, the women had barely moved from the positions they fell asleep in: Korra was still in Asami's arms. In truth, the businesswoman didn't mind one bit to wake up like this either. At some point in time, one of them had managed to pull the blanket over the both of them, shielding them at least somewhat from the bitter cold air in the loft.

On the plus side, the news had at least been accurate to a certain degree, because the blizzard had died down again.

She opened her eyes, trying not to disturb the sleeping callgirl. Asami knew she'd probably be exhausted having recounted _and reliving_ such a trying part of her life, so she decided just to let her sleep for now, and instead work her arm free as discreetly as she could.

Much to her own surprise, she managed to do this without waking Korra up. The businesswoman had to get back to her hotel, though. People there were probably wondering where she was, or even that she'd gotten trapped in the blizzard. Finding her phone was a bit tricky, as she couldn't really remember where she'd put it last night, but once she'd found it next to the couch, she went to the narrow stairwell so that she could have her conversation in peace.

"Plaza Hotel Ushuaia, how may I help you?" The receptionist said when she'd picked up.

Asami hesitated for a moment. "It's Asami Sato, I'd like to ask for a car to pick me up. Is Koda Nasak already on shift?"

"Miss Sato! Where have you been? We were about to send out a search party!"

_Boy, talk about overdoing it._ "Relax, I'm fine. I spent the night at the gym, the same one Mr. Nasak dropped me off yesterday. Could you send him to pick me up?"

"Of course, Miss Sato, I'll send him on his way immediately."

After the necessary directions, Asami went back into the loft, where Korra had also woken up. "Morning," the businesswoman softly opened.

"Hey," she replied, sitting on the edge of her bed. "Thanks for listening to my crap last night."

Asami sat down beside her, taking her hand again. "That wasn't crap, don't you ever say that again. I think..." She paused for a moment, trying to find the right words to phrase it. "I think you're really brave, that you soldier on like this. You didn't let anyone beat you down, and you made the best of a bad situation."

A small yet very sincere smile appeared on her face. "Thanks, Asami." Korra chuckled. "Took me a while, though. At first, I was scared. Scared that those guys Unalaq sent for me would actually come for me, to kill me. Got these," she said, turning around and bunching up her short hair, revealing a small tattoo behind either ear, "to make sure the world would know who I am if they actually did." One was a blue Water Tribe symbol with 'Tonraq' written in it, the other a heart with 'Senna' written in it.

"Those are your parents?" Asami asked.

She nodded. "Yeah, so if anyone would take a close look at me or something, someone might ask questions. Over the years, I've gotten slightly less paranoid, and it was just to remind me of them." Korra let out a dry chuckle. "Keep forgetting which one is on which side though, so I guess it didn't really work," she admitted, and Asami smiled too.

"That's really sweet of you, Korra, even if it didn't have the desired effect."

The callgirl stood up and patted herself down. "Come on, I'll make you a cup of tea."

Asami followed her to the small kitchen unit, and informed her of the car she'd ordered. It wouldn't be too long before it'd be here, which seemed to disappoint Korra. "How long have you got left in Ushuaia?"

"Until Thursday," the businesswoman answered, feeling that familiar pang of sadness set in. She hadn't really thought about it until now, but her business trip/vacation was almost over already. In hindsight, it had gone by quicker than she would have thought, Korra playing no small part in that.

_It also means my time with her is coming to a quick end._

- _About damn time, she's not good for you._

_Unless..._

- _Don't you even fucking **think** about it._

Asami sighed. She was sitting on 36 billion yuans and a company that employs 300.000 people worldwide, not counting sub-contractors and other partners, and yet she was just going to sit on her hands with Korra?

_If I can get her out of here..._

- _You'd be smuggling a person! That's not just a petty crime, it would land you some serious jail time! Plus, what if she's lying? You'd really stick your neck out for someone who could have just made the whole thing up?_

_I don't think she's lying, it seemed sincere._

- _Kuvira seemed sincere for those six months, and all she left you with was a broken heart and a surplus of ammunition for me. She's a prostitute, lying is what she does for a living._

For once, her voice of reason had a solid point. So far, when it came to Korra, her judgment was clouded. If she was going to do this, she'd need to look at the situation objectively, preferably get second pair of eyes on it. That was going to be tricky, because that pair of eyes needed to be unbiased, and it would need to be subtle.

"You okay there?" Korra's voice pulled her from her thoughts. "You were zoning out for a minute."

Asami shook her head, clearing herself up. "Yeah, I'm good, I just have a lot on my mind. If I can't fix that deal with Unalaq before I leave here on Thursday, it's going to cost my company a lot of money."

The callgirl handed over a cup of steaming tea and scoffed. "Honestly, I'm not surprised he didn't sign your deal."

"What do you mean?" the businesswoman asked, taking a sip.

"He's my uncle, I know him. He's not just a cruel bastard, he's a bigot on top of everything else. Chances are he knows about you swinging for the other team, and that has a part to play with his refusal."

This made Asami smile, but she didn't fully agree. "Let's get one thing straight: a man who kicks puppies is cruel. What he did to you and your parents, that's pure evil. Personal grievances aside, we're both professionals, do you really think he'd let something as petty as my sexuality get in the way of meaningful progress for both the Tribe and my company?"

Korra though for a moment, but ultimately nodded. "Probably. Asami, he is very smart, but he's also proud, it's a trait that runs in the family. He's committed himself against homosexuality for years, and he would sooner pull his eyes out through his own asshole than admit he was wrong about that. Agreeing with your deal means submitting to you, something he'd never do."

The businesswoman's hatred for the chief was growing exponentially. Normally, she was perfectly capable of separating her personal opinions from her professional enterprises, but he was really starting to push her buttons now. "Fucking marvelous," she sighed. "I knew I shouldn't have come down here myself."

At this, Korra didn't really know what to say, and they finished their tea in silence. Right before Asami could finish hers, she heard the beeping of a horn, and when she went to check, it turned out to be Koda's Bentley.

"Listen, Korra, thank you for everything. I think we'll see each other again before I leave, at least, given how much time we've spent together so far, I'm not sure what else to expect."

Her slanted smirk grew. "I'm working shifts for the rest of the week, so you can always order me online," she said with a deliberate sense of morbid sarcasm. "Take care, Asami."

The businesswoman quickly made her way down the stairs and to the waiting 4x4, where she spent most of the ride profusely apologizing to Koda for not calling him yesterday. Once she calmed him down and he'd driven her back to the hotel, it was time to set her plan in motion. "Nikita?" she asked when her assistant picked up her phone. "I need you to patch me through to Jinora Gyatso from Legal, we have something to discuss."

"Certainly, Miss Sato, hold for just a minute."

55 seconds later, the line switched. "Jinora Gyatso, Future Industries Legal Department."

"Hey Jinora, it's Asami. Are you busy?"

"Not very, why?"

"Dump all your work on an intern, I have something else for you. Something off the books, that will test the bounds of your discretion. You think you're the right person for the job?"

Jinora chuckled and thought for a moment. "Sounds right up my alley. What is it?"

"I need you to do a background check on four people: the Amaroks."

"The Southern Water Tribe's ruling family?"

"That's the one. I need you to check on Chief Unalaq, Tonraq and his wife Senna, and their daughter. Can you get me something by the end of the day?"

On the far end of the line, there was the sound of Jinora's nimble fingers rapping over a keyboard, clearly already searching. "Why would you want me to do checks on the Chief and two criminals? Tonraq and Senna are incarcerated for drug smuggling in the Northern Tribe."

_That's a promising start._ "Don't ask unnecessary questions, just do it. Call me when you have something, and don't forget about the daughter."

Jinora briefly doubted. "What are you working on, Asami? Nothing illegal, I hope?"

"Jinora, I came to you because I believe can trust you. I was hoping you would trust me as well, and believe me when I say that what I ask you to do is the right thing."

The legal expert sighed. "Alright, but if I suspect foul play from you, we no longer have a deal."

"Sounds fair enough. Let me know what you dig up." Asami hung up, and sighed. That girl was too smart for her own good sometimes. Jinora Gyatso was brilliant, and Asami had to use all of her persuasive powers (not to mention a heap of money) to keep her at Future Industries instead of losing her to some fancy law firm.

Instead of moping on the issue all day, the businesswoman decided to make herself useful, take a quick shower, and catch up on some badly overdue paperwork that she hadn't been able to get to yesterday. And unlike yesterday, it actually served as the perfect way to distract herself now. She was getting through it nice and quick, taking some good steps to ensure the stack of unfinished work on her desk wouldn't reach to the ceiling when she got back to Republic City.

It was about time for her to provide herself with some dinner in the shape of another glass of that excellent 32 year-old whiskey when Jinora called. "Okay Gyatso, what have you got for me?"

"Well, quite a lot actually. At first, it seemed pretty straightforward. Older sibling commits crime, gets locked up, younger sibling takes the throne, case closed. Now I'm not going to insult your intelligence by presuming you didn't already know that. I'm also going to assume you're not interested in Unalaq's marriage with Malina and the twins that came from that marriage."

"You know me too well," Asami sarcastically replied.

Jinora chuckled. "Why thank you, means I've done my job properly. Anyway, the first part of the lives of all the people you asked me to check on is fairly straightforward, not a lot going on there worth mentioning. It isn't until the trial for the drug smuggling that it starts to become interesting. You see, at first, I thought it was just that. It seemed conclusive, because everything was right there; drugs, money, manifests, all in a place where Tonraq and Senna could easily reach it. But then I started digging in a little deeper, and that's where the holes started to form. Tonraq was a general in the army, reaching that rank by the age of 40, which is impressive. But here's the thing: he doesn't fit the profile of a criminal. At all. Normally, their records show one of two things: either it's an inch thick for people with those crimes, or it's clean as a whistle, because they bribed or killed the right people."

"That's not the case here?"

"Nope, he has things like parking fines and speeding tickets, even a charge for an unlicensed firearm, but that was a clerical mistake. It was a hunting rifle, and the license had expired because of sloppy bureaucracy. Nothing to worry about. Also, when I read up on the unofficial stuff about him - pre-trial, that is - there wasn't any sign of him being corrupt. I think he's clean."

This had Asami confused. "But he did get locked up. Are you suggesting he was framed?"

"I am. Whoever did this, was thorough, making sure his wife was out of the way as well, implicating her on the same charges to make sure she couldn't fight back any more than he could. Same story with her, by the way. Her file is relatively clean, but not spotless. Now you're smart enough to figure out who my suspect is, so yes, this whole case stinks like hell to me."

_Now we're getting somewhere. Unalaq was the one who framed them._

"Did you find anything on the Chief and the daughter?"

Jinora chuckled again. "Well, the Chief does fit the profile I mentioned: his record is clean, far too clean if you ask me. Again, the pre-trial stuff I found suggested he's smart enough to come up with something elaborate like this, yet Tonraq wouldn't be smart enough to figure it out. Now here's something interesting: Tonraq was a general, making 200 grand a year, and Senna had her own therapy practice, making a nice little salary for herself. From what I've been able to dig up, they were living to the extent their salaries suggested. If there was extra income, what were they doing with all that money?"

"It didn't exist." Asami was kind of amazed that this had been overlooked, and that she did as well. Hell, Korra even said it: they never really went on vacations. "Can you prove any of this?"

She heard Jinora sigh. "No, not indisputable at least."

"So it's a dead end."

"Not necessarily, I'd just need more time to pull on this thread and unravel the entire thing. There's only so much I can get through in one day's work."

_Again, this holds promise._ "Sounds good, but hold that off for now." Asami suddenly realized something. "Did you find anything on the daughter?"

There were a few clicks, indicating Jinora pulling up a different file. "Ah, the daughter. Korra Amarok, only child, born in November 1989, knack for ice hockey, you know the drill. Again, this doesn't get interesting until the trial." The legal expert took a deep breath. "Asami, she doesn't exist anymore."

"What?"

"She fell off the grid, it's like she just vanished into thin air. No one reported her as missing, she didn't go into foster care, there isn't a single record of her after the trial. It's unlikely that she's dead, because there wasn't a death certificate, not a single morgue reported someone who fitted her profile, so honestly, everything I could tell you about her after the trial would be speculation."

_Based on this, I have a pretty good idea where she can be._ Asami slowly nodded from force of habit, but she knew she had everything she needed. "Alright, Jinora, this is good work. Send me everything you got, I need a little bit of bedtime reading anyway."

There was an audible sigh from the other end of the line. "Asami, I don't like this. You're up to something, and somehow, I have this feeling it's going to land both of us a lot of trouble."

The businesswoman chuckled. "Not if everything goes according to plan. Look, it's better for the both of us that I don't share this over the phone, but I promise you this: I'll make everything clear to you when I get back to Republic City. Okay?"

"Alright, you should have it in a few minutes. Have fun reading." With that, Jinora hung up, and Asami waited impatiently for the file to arrive. Of course, the whole thing was just a diversion, all she really needed was proof of Korra's existence.

When it finally did come, she wasted no time, and immediately began scrolling through the file. Jinora had done a really good job pulling up information on all four of them in such a short amount of time, but what Asami really needed was something indisputable.

And there it was: a school photo. It wasn't a very high resolution picture, but the girl in the lower left corner was unmistakably a younger version of Korra. She had long hair in the photo, tied up in three wolftails, but she had the same ice-blue eyes and that same slanted smirk, which Asami now knew was something she already had before Unalaq got to her.

_There, satisfied?_

- _I still don't like it, what you want to do is criminal, and not a little bit._

_She was telling the truth, not to mention that with everything she's been through, she deserves a break._

- _Don't say I didn't warn you if this comes to bite you in the ass._

_Duely noted._ With that, the businesswoman picked up her phone, scrolling through her list to call Korra again. "Can you come over?" she asked once they had gone through the greetings.

"I'm sorry, Asami, I'm on my way to a client now. If you want me to stop by, you'll have to call Wushu, I need this now. Over the past two days, I haven't made a dime, and that's something I can't afford. I'll go straight from his place to yours."

Asami felt a pang of jealousy go through her. In reality, she knew this was bound to happen, she knew Korra was on a shift tonight, and she knew exactly what that entailed.

Didn't mean she had to like it, though.

"Alright, I'll make the appointment. But Korra, do know this: don't stall, this is very important. To both of us, if things go according to plan."

It was briefly silent on the other end of the line. "Okay, I'll be there in an hour, hour and a half at most."

Asami hung up, and prepared to dial for Wushu's Escort Service again, making a quick mental note to ask for Sapphire, not Korra.

* * *

**Fast forward two hours**

* * *

She'd read through the file Jinora had sent her at least five times, and spend the rest of the two hours since her phone call with Wushu rehearsing the speech in her head, knowing it was all or nothing. After the hour mark had passed, she was slowly starting to get worried. Surely Korra would have let her know if something had come up, right? At the knock on her door, Asami shot up from her seat like a bow from an arrow.

The sight that greeted her when she opened the door though, shocked her.

Korra was leaning against the doorframe, looking like she was barely able to support her own weight. There were fresh bruises on her face, and a small cut on her eyebrow. Her arms displayed a similar pattern, while the rest was covered up with a pair of leggings, boots with high heels, a pair of booty shorts, her trademark armbands, and a form-fitting blue tank top.

"Jesus Christ, what the hell happened to you?!" Asami exclaimed in shock.

"Rough client..." she heaved, her voice raspy, and she shifted her support from the door to Asami's shoulder.

The businesswoman quickly helped her in, sitting her down in a comfortable chair, and moved to the tray to prepare a makeshift icepack and something big with a lot of alcohol in it. Korra gratefully took both of them, pressing the ice against her eye and clogged half the drink back in one swig.

_Impressive. That's a 45% brandy._

"How did you let it get this far?" Asami asked after a while. "Korra, with your arms, you can fight back The Hulk, and yet some guy leaves you looking like this?"

A dry chuckle escaped the callgirl's throat, followed a raspy coughing fit. Once it had finally died down again, she spoke up. "He was a bastard, one who got off on beating hookers. I could have said no after the first hit, but I needed the money, so I let him." She coughed again, and the businesswoman noticed something else.

"Look up," Asami ordered. Korra reluctantly complied, and all it revealed were more bruises on her neck. "He choked you as well?" She nodded, a hint of shame in her eyes. "Jesus..." she slowly swore. "Are you hurt anywhere else?"

"A few bruises, but nothing to worry about." Another coughing fit escaped her. "What was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

The businesswoman doubted. She couldn't really throw everything at Korra now, not while she was like this. On the other hand, this was one hell of a good reason to get her out of here, to a place where she could be safe. "It can wait," she ultimately decided. "You can go take a shower if you want, and you're staying here for the night."

The callgirl chuckled again. "Yeah, kind of figured that, though I can't guarantee quality like the last times."

"Korra, I don't want to have sex, as per usual, I want to talk to you. If you want money or not, I leave that up to you, but first, you go clean yourself up a little."

A smile broke across her face, one that quickly turned into a grimace as she stood up. "Thanks, Asami. I... I appreciate that." With that, she went into the bathroom, and it left Asami pondering. Could she tell her everything now, now that she had already had such a rough day? She might be prone to making rash decisions, not to mention that two out of three things they needed to discuss would make her feel even shittier.

There was one important factor though: time. She would only be here in the South Pole for another two and a half days, and then their window would be gone. That wasn't a lot to make such a big decision for Korra, and even if she made it immediately, it wouldn't leave a lot of time to make the preparations and smuggle the callgirl into the United Republic.

It had to be now.

Asami knocked on the door of the bathroom. "Korra? Do you want to borrow some more comfortable clothes?"

At first, there was no reply, but then came a sigh, one that was even audible over the running water of the shower. "Yeah, that would be nice."

It made the businesswoman chuckle, and she went to her suitcases to pick out the most comfortable outfit with what was left, which turned out to be a pair of trico pajama pants, a simple t-shirt, and a hoodie. She left the clothes outside the bathroom, and after instructing Korra about this, waited patiently for her to finish dressing herself.

Asami made them both another drink, this time finishing the 32-year old bottle of scotch, but it would be worth it. The sight of Korra coming out of the bathroom made her chuckle though. The clothes were a complete mismatch on every count, for she was wearing white hotel slippers, red and white-striped pajama pants, a green shirt, her blue armbands, and the hoodie in hand. Couple that with the vibrant colors of the elements on her left arm, and it was like she crashed through the wardrobe of a circus performer. "Elegant," Asami deadpanned while raising a sarcastic eyebrow.

"Your own choices," the callgirl evenly replied, taking the seat across from her client. "Besides, I'm not here to win any fashion contests. These bruises are going to put me out of commission for at least three days. No one wants to fuck a hooker who looks like another man's punching bag."

The businesswoman took a deep breath, surprised that Korra was so nonchalant about it. "Has this happened before?" she asked while sliding the drink over the table.

"A few times, though it's more hearsay than that it actually happens to me," she said, taking a sip of her whiskey. "Hmm, good stuff. Anyway, the prevailing theory is that when men get their eye on the guns" she flexed her free arm at this, "they tend to change their mind." Asami laughed, and it briefly fell silent. "Why did you want me here tonight, Asami? You've been dancing around the issue ever since I stepped through that door."

She took a deep breath. "I have a few things to tell you, some of which you're going to like, others that you definitely won't."

A raised eyebrow from the callgirl was all she got out of this in terms of an emotional reaction. "Like what?"

"I did a background check on you, Korra. You, your parents, and your uncle."

Her expression changed slightly towards the angry, but still inquisitive. "You didn't believe me?"

Asami sighed. "I did, and that was exactly the problem: I wanted to believe you, I want it all to be true, so that what I have planned is all justifiable." Korra allowed it to fall silent, and for the businesswoman to finish. "Korra, I want to offer you to come back with me to the United Republic."

At this, the callgirl nearly choked on the sip of whiskey she was savoring in her mouth. After a few good coughs, she managed to speak again, tears forming in the corners of her eyes from choking. " _What_?!"

"I'm flying out on Thursday. If you come with me on my plane, back to Republic City, I can help you out of this life, and far away from characters who leave you looking like this," she said, gesturing to the newly formed bruises.

Korra looked a little insulted at this again. "Asami, I already told you, I don't want your pity. I have a plan in place, and I'm very nearly ready to execute it."

"It's not pity, I'm offering you an opportunity." She hesitated. "I didn't want to tell you this last night, but your plan of visiting you parents isn't going to work. I already thought this as soon as you told me, and what I found out today only confirmed those suspicions. Tell me, what do you know of the world outside the Southern Water Tribe?"

"Not a lot," she admitted. "I tend to stay away from the news. Too many familiar faces," she chuckled, and Asami smiled too.

"Let me sketch for you how it would probably go: the smugglers you pay would rob you blind when you want to get out of the South, and then you'll end up in the Southern Earth Kingdom States, which is pretty much the poorest region on the planet. Even if you can make it to Gaoling, you'd be back at square one: no contacts, no money, no place to stay... I think you'd end up falling right back into prostitution, only in a region where there is no figure like Unalaq to beat the worst criminals back into line, even he himself is the worst of criminals. Now let's say for argument's sake that you can cross that hurdle, and make it across the Earth Kingdom States, _and_ make it into the Northern Water Tribe. That still wouldn't do you any good, because then you can't get into the prison, because you need a government issued photo-ID for that. And last but not least, _even if_ you manage to avoid all that, it still wouldn't work, because your parents are in maximum security, and aren't allowed any visitors. Neither of them."

This clearly was a lot for Korra to take in. It was fairly obvious to Asami that she hadn't thought that far ahead, nor would she have been able to. Jinora knew exact who to ask for certain information, and Korra didn't. "How sure are you about all that?" she eventually asked, voice wavering.

Asami took her time. "Most of it is speculation, but it's balance of probability. All but the visitation, that much is certain."

The callgirl's eyes were watering. "So they're alive?" she said, a surprising amount of relief in her voice.

The businesswoman smiled and nodded. "They are. Your father got beaten up a few times, apparently, but he had backup. There are still people loyal to him, and once I get back to Republic City, I am going to do everything in my power to get them out of there."

It was exactly what Korra needed to hear, and she burst out into happy tears, pulling Asami into a tight hug. "Thank you," she whispered into the crook of her neck, before a groan escaped her. "Okay, this may have been a mistake..."

Asami got a quizzical look on her face. "What do you mean?"

"Just a rib," the callgirl smiled painfully. "Got a little busted tonight."

"God, Korra..." There wasn't much else Asami could say. It fell silent, and the two women could mostly just share a very meaningful look. For the businesswoman, it meant that Korra understood what was at stake here. "You get in bed now, I'll join you in a minute."

Asami quickly went to the bathroom, changing into her pajamas, brushing her teeth and removing her make-up, only to find Korra still pondering the issue in her bed. She was fidgeting with the hem of her armbands, and it was a strange sight. The cocky, confident callgirl had been turned into an insecure mess, but the businesswoman knew it was because of the massive emotional draining that had transpired over the past couple of days. She worked her way under the covers as well, taking one of Korra's hands into her own. "Are you okay?"

The callgirl rolled onto her side, a grimace on her face. "I'm tired, Asami. But I want to go with you."

A wave of relief washed over her. "That's good to hear."

Korra pressed a sweet kiss on her lips. "Thank you. For... for everything that you've done for me." Another wince crept over her face as she moved back again. "Okay, I'm sleeping on my other side, this hurts too much. Goddamn ribs."

Asami couldn't suppress the chuckle that escaped her, earning her a quasi-angry glance from Korra. "Sleep tight," she whispered, crawling just a little closer to the callgirl, basking in both her warmth and earthly scent. "I'm glad you're coming with me."

* * *

_I know this chapter isn't brilliant, but my original promise holds true: the first two chapter won't be the last smut you see, it just won't happen until the lovely ladies get back to Republic City. I also want to make the next chapter two days again instead of just one, but it keeps working out like this. Also, updates might be slowed down a little by my incessant writer's block and a little side-project I've started called[Who We Are](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6065152)._


	7. One Last Time

**Wednesday**

* * *

Waking up next to Korra _without_ the callgirl's arms wrapped around her was a little weird. _Has to be said: still much better than waking up alone._ She wasn't in any condition to do so right now, but it still was a little unsettling.

During the night, Asami had sort of hogged the covers, which was kind of embarrassing. On the other hand, Korra didn't appear to be cold, even with her shirt riding up a little bit, just barely revealing the tattoo on her back. The businesswoman couldn't help but take a moment to admire the complex blue design, appreciating it for just what it was: beautiful.

She'd have just today to fix the damage she'd done with Unalaq, but this time around, she'd have Varrick to back her up. Part of their discussion two days ago was that he had made another appointment with the Chief to lay out a few more of the pros and cons now that tempers hopefully wouldn't flare as much.

Though it had to be said: Unalaq had insulted Asami's sense of fashion, he wasn't going to come out of this discussion unscathed.

- _Better start sharpening your teeth._

_Relax, it won't get that far._

- _Call me a skeptic, but I don't believe that. Anything is possible with that man._

_Good point._

She looked over to the woman softly snoring beside her, which did bring a smile to her face. Korra looked so peaceful when she was asleep, even when her face was covered with bruises. Asami's eyes drifted down to the callgirl's armbands. She still hadn't told her why she always wore those, so the businesswoman was fairly certain it was to cover up something. Given how little trouble she had with someone seeing her naked, but how consistent she was in keeping those things on, it had to be something from her past that even she herself wanted to forget about.

A wave of discomfort hit her; it meant that not only had she been prostituting herself since she was 16, something _even worse_ had happened to her afterwards. Asami was having a hard time imagining what something like that could possibly be.

Chances were, given the response the callgirl gave on their first morning together, the tattoo of Raava had something to do with those armbands. She knew that she wasn't going to figure out from just lying here, but prying into something _this_ personal, that was risky. It would have to come out of her naturally, if at all.

Asami absentmindedly brushed a stray strand of hair out of Korra's face, wondering what secrets were inside of that head.

Over on the nightstand, her phone's alarm clock gently started ringing, and before it got too loud, the businesswoman shut it off. Her meeting with Varrick was bright and early, the only time the Chief could, _or perhaps more likely, would,_ make time for them. She wasn't looking forward to it, but it was something that needed to happen if she wanted to have any semblance of chance to fix her deal.

Quietly, she got out of the bed and made for the shower once she'd selected her wardrobe, making sure it wouldn't give Unalaq any ammunition this time around. She'd selected a double-breasted burgundy pantsuit with black trim on the cuffs and a simple white satin blouse underneath. _Always go with red if you're not sure if it'll end well. At least the bloodstains won't be obvious to the casual observer._

Korra had woken up by the time she was done and smiled at Asami. "Morning," she said, her voice a lot clearer than it had been last night.

"Hey," the businesswoman softly replied. "How's the face?"

She chuckled. "Well, outside of this lovely shiner, it's fine. Like I said, give it a few days, and I'll be looking as good as new." She briefly allowed a silence to fall between them. "I guess I should call Wushu, tell him I'm packing my bags, huh?"

Asami smiled too. "I guess you should. I think it's best if we swing by your place on our way to the airport, pick you up there. I have to make some arrangements for you, but all that should work itself out. Come hell or high water, I am getting you into the Republic."

"You really think it's gonna work?"

"I'll figure something out," Asami said, a serious look on her face. "I'm not so easy to beat down."

Korra could see the humor of the quip and laughed. Even with that massive bruise on her eye, it was definitely one of Asami's new favorite sights.

- _You are so damn whipped._

_Yeah, point taken._

"How do you want to solve _your_ money issue? I take it Wushu has his commission?"

The callgirl slowly nodded. "50 percent, that's his share. I know it's a lot, but he does take care of us, make sure that if we ever get in trouble, he can easily get us out again. He's a pretty decent guy. So yeah, I guess there are pimps who charge less than that, but they also don't take care of their girls as well. I'll figure something out."

Asami thought for a moment. "And you still don't wanna take my money?"

"Not unless I earned it."

"How about this: I give you Wushu's commission, you leave with a clean slate. No burned bridges, no demons to deal with, should you ever get back."

Korra let it sink in, weighing her options. "Yeah, that's okay. He's still not gonna like it though, I'm one of his best girls."

"That's his burden to bear, not yours. You should say goodbye to the right people, because I don't think I can get you back in for a long time." Asami put the right amount of money on the table, before she looked at the clock, seeing that time was running out. "Listen, I have to go. You stay as long as you need to, breakfast and everything is on me."

The callgirl stood up, wrapping her in a tight hug, even though she was trying to relieve the pressure on her bruised rib. "Thanks, Asami. I can't say how much I appreciate all this."

The businesswoman pulled back and smiled. "Get ready, Korra. Tomorrow will be the start of your new life." With that, she was on her way down to the lobby, where Koda was waiting for her with his Bentayga, and he drove them to her meeting. Varrick was waiting for her at the palace, so as soon as Koda's Bentley pulled up, they were on their way to Unalaq's office. Before they went directly to the office, Asami pulled the eccentric Southerner into a narrow, unoccupied hallway.

"Varrick, can I ask you for something, off the record?"

He twirled his mustache. "Look, Asami, I think you're very attractive, but we're business partners, and..."

She wasn't amused. "Not. That." Her harsh comment and her piercing stare was enough to shut him up. "I need to get someone on my plane without anyone noticing, and then fly back to Republic City."

"Trouble with stalkers? Look, the only way to deal with crazy women is to lie big and leave fast, lucky for you, Varrick's got your back. Now, who do you need to get rid of?"

Asami rolled her eyes. "That's not it either. I need to take someone back with me, but I need to get her in without customs knowing. She doesn't have a passport."

A sly smile appeared on Varrick's face. "Well, that makes things difficult, but not impossible. Getting her on the plane won't be a problem, it's getting her off without having you slammed in handcuffs that's the difficult part."

"Why is getting her on the plane easy?"

His enthusiastic smile and look in his eyes returned. "Because I own the airport of course!" he nearly yelled, spreading is arms. _Of course he does. Why are you even surprised by this?_ "As for getting her into the United Republic, well, let me put it this way: everyone is willing to look the other way if you give them enough yuans."

The businesswoman raised an unconvinced eyebrow. "Are you telling me to bribe customs?"

"Damn straight I am! I've been doing it for years! Now a complete person, that's gonna be expensive, so I'd say, give the checking officer about 10.000, that should do the trick. Customs official's salaries are piss-poor, so there shouldn't be any trouble."

"And if there is trouble?"

Varrick almost looked insulted at this. "Then you offer him more, do I have to spell out everything for you?"

- _He's got a point, you know._

_Oh, shut it._

"Thanks for the advice. I'm leaving tomorrow, can I count on you to take care of the customs here?"

"That's gonna cost you."

_Of course it is._ "What's your price?"

A sly grin appeared on his face. "I want to be a larger shareholder in the shipyard. Future Industries is still holding on to 60 percent ownership, I want 5 percent of that."

"We're already giving you 15 percent, while you're only paying for 12.5 percent of the costs. Not to mention, that shipyard is going to cost millions, if not billions, that's an unfair price."

"You wanna get her out of here or not?"

Asami loudly sighed. "2.5 percent more, but you take over full costs of your part."

He thought for a moment. "You got a deal, Miss Sato. Text me when you leave the hotel, I'll have everything ready for you when you get there." Varrick paused, giving her a moment to think it over. "Now, what do you say, we wrap up the Chief warmly, change his mind on cutting you out?"

Asami smiled. "Let's."

They left their little empty hallway and made for Unalaq's office, where his secretary let them in. Now of course, the conversation was stilted and uncomfortable, given how the businesswoman and the chief parted ways last time around.

Varrick was the one to bring up the shipyard first. "Chief Unalaq, I have to inquire, why did you change your mind on the project? Asami and I have just renegotiated, and 2.5 percent ownership more will revert to my company. Does that do anything to change your mind?"

Unalaq thought for a moment. "Not really. I'd want a majority of the ownership to remain in the hands of the state, coming from the shares of Future Industries, where we buy it in terms after construction has completed. When I have that in writing, I'll sign off on it."

"You mean after you've had the chance to see whether or not it's profitable?" Asami snidely asked, fully aware that he would build in a backdoor somewhere in a contract like that.

A slight smile appeared on his face. "You are a lot smarter than you look, Miss Sato."

"I may only have been the de facto leader of my company for five years and the official one for three, but I know a poor investment when I see one."

Over the course of the meeting, it was mostly Varrick who tried to still make something from this deal, including upping the price of the land, offering higher profit rates to the Tribe, lower costs for military vessels, and none of it worked. Unalaq remained stubborn, and Asami was about sick of it.

_Fuck this shit, it's never going to happen._ "You wanna know what I think?" she asked when Varrick was about to launch another offer that would fall on deaf ears. "I think that if I'd sent a handful of board members, middle-aged men in grey suits who would fly home to a wife and three kids, you would have signed that contract, no problem." Varrick squeezed her shoulder, trying to get her to stop, but it wouldn't matter; Unalaq was never going to give in with Asami calling the shots. "But you're not dealing with my board, you're dealing with a lesbian 20 years your junior, and you can't stomach that."

Unalaq was glaring daggers at her. "Is there anything in particular you're trying to achieve with this little insult rant of yours?"

"Just want to put an end to this gigantic waste of my time," Asami smirked, loving the way she was getting under his skin.

"Let me make it easy for you." Unalaq walked out, and they could hear the conversation he had with his secretary. "Get my car out front. My guests will show themselves out." Even with her most basic understanding of foreign etiquette, Asami knew that leaving your guests was a grave insult in the Water Tribes. Still, she'd achieved what she was after and comfortably settled back into her sofa.

Varrick, however, did not share the sentiment. "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND?!" he yelled as soon as Unalaq had shut the door behind him. "We need that deal to go forward, and you just kneecapped it!"

_That was to be expected._ Asami settled into the sofa a little more comfortably, a slight smile lining her face. "Relax, I got this. Do you really think I'd burn a bridge unless I had a boat to peddle across?"

"Burn it? _Burn it_?!" He yelled in disbelief. "You didn't burn it, you threw a goddamn nuke on the fucking thing! What are you going to tell your company? What am _I_ going to tell _my_ company?! That we can't move forward with a billion yuan deal because of your ego?!"

The businesswoman made a 'fair enough'-face and nodded. "Yeah, that sounds about right. However, I would appreciate it if you'd make it a bit less hostile on my end."

Varrick's expression of disbelief was growing increasingly hilarious, and at this rate, the little smirk on Asami's face wouldn't be enough anymore to hide her amusement. "Why are you jovial?"

"I told you, I have a plan. You just need to trust me." She leaned forward. "And despite what you might think of me now, I need you to make that thing with customs tomorrow work."

He just stared at her incredulously. "You're kidding me, right? You are in no position to demand favors at the moment."

- _You gotta tell him the truth now, lying will only make him less likely to agree._

She walked across the room, sitting down next to Varrick. "I'm going to get Tonraq out of prison and let him claim his throne."

He didn't seem impressed. "Don't tell me you believe in all those conspiracy theories? Unalaq is the chief we have to deal with, plain and simple."

"For now," Asami brushed off his comment. "I have two independent sources, both confirming each other. I trust them. All I need is time to work it out, collect proof that his trial was bogus, and he'll be a free man again. Get someone out of a hopeless situation like that, and when I say 'jump', he says 'how high'."

"People have tried that, Asami, and he's still behind bars. Plus, we shouldn't be discussing this in here."

The slight smile returned on her face. "This is probably the only room in the Southern Water Tribe they'd never think to bug. Plus, most people don't have my resources. Now there are more important reasons to make this happen, but having a chief on the throne I can work with is definitely an added bonus."

Varrick thought for a long time, twirling his mustache. "Alright," he ultimately said. "I'll get you your 'get out of jail free'-card for tomorrow, but you'll owe me. Big time."

"Fair enough. How do I go about it?"

He sighed. "You move through the freight area, go to hangar with your plane in it from there. I'll tell my man there to let you pass."

"Alright, thank you. I'll let you know if anything comes up." Varrick was in a foul mood, and leaving quietly seemed like the best thing to do right now.

- _Right, you've pissed off most of your business partners here in the South, now what?_

_Make sure part two of my plan works?_

- _You don't sound very certain of that, not a good sign._

"I'm guessing you made some new friends over in the palace, huh?" Koda asked a few minutes into their journey back to the hotel.

"What do you mean?"

"Black SUV, one car back, don't turn around immediately." Asami took a make-up mirror out of her purse, seeing that her driver wasn't kidding. "He's been following us since we left. Now either it's a big coincidence, but my best guess is that he's after you, or trying to get dirt on you."

_Shit. If they get eyes on Korra, she's as good as dead, we can never get out of here together._

- _I told you it was a bad idea._

Asami sighed, trying to think up a plan. Chances were her cell and hotel phone were bugged, so she couldn't contact Korra that way. She'd have to do it the old-fashioned way. _Literally._ "Koda, I need to ask you for a favor. A big one."

"What is it?"

"I need to borrow that kick-ass 911 of yours."

At this, he was so surprised, he nearly steered into a parked car. "Are you being funny here?"

Asami shook her head. "No, I'm not. Has everything to do with this tail that we picked up just now, because I have to tie up some loose ends before I leave here tomorrow. I promise you, I'll bring it back in one piece." She looked at him with her biggest green eyes, knowing full well that had an effect on almost every man she encountered. "Please. I wouldn't have asked you if it wasn't absolutely necessary."

Koda hesitated immensely but ultimately conceded. "Alright, but only if you promise me to be very careful."

"Of course."

As soon as they made it back to the hotel, Asami made her way back up to her room, set to change out of these obvious clothes and instead changed into a pair of black jeans and a grey hoodie over her blouse, making sure no one would ask questions if someone saw her walking down the street. She took the precaution of leaving her phone in her room, making sure it couldn't be traced. Once down to the garage, she immediately walked to the bright red classic. _Damn, that's beautiful._

"You here to steal my baby?"

"Something like that." Asami smiled. "I really need you on this one, Koda. If I can be traced, there's no telling what will happen."

He very slowly nodded. "Okay," the driver said, hesitantly handing over the keys. "Just be careful."

"Always." She got in the driver's seat, firing up the air-cooled flat six. _The glorious sound of an engine working._

- _You do realize it's not the most inconspicuous car in the South?_

_Meh, if the technology can't be traced, there's nothing to worry about._

With a loud roar, she drove off, heading to the gym. Luckily, Asami was good with routes, remembering the way Koda went when he took her there last time. She kept a close eye on cars following her but found that once she'd hit the neighborhood of the gym, nothing was behind her since the beginning.

Deciding to park the car behind the gym, out of sight from the main road, she walked inside, making her way to the loft. "Korra? You in there?" Asami asked, knocking on the door.

"Hold on!" came a yell from the inside. "Yeah okay, it's open!" followed after a few seconds.

The businesswoman stepped in and raised an eyebrow at the sight that greeted her; Korra was walking across the room, wearing nothing more than her armbands and a pair of panties.

_Holy shit, you should try **not** calling in advance more often._

On closer inspection, after having enjoyed the view of first the completely bare locked heart and accompanying flowerbed on her chest, followed by the way Raava moved over that gorgeously muscled back...

- _For fuck's sake, get a grip._

Asami slapped herself back into reality-land, seeing that Korra's hair was wet, probably just having come out of the shower. Once the callgirl had clasped on a bra and threw on a shirt, she turned around, smiling as she noticed the faint blush on Asami's cheeks. "Can't imagine Monsieur Monet blushing," she smirked.

Now that the businesswoman was a little more focused, she saw the bruise on the callgirl's eye was still there, and it was now in its 'very dark blue'-stage, which didn't give her the healthiest appearance in the world.

_Not that it matters very much, she looks amazing, shiner or not._

- _Do I even have to make fun of that?_

_Go nuts, I won't care._

"Really? Titanic?" Asami asked, but Korra just nodded, her smirk growing. "Doesn't it bother you that you basically answered the door naked? I'm not the pizza guy you can flash instead of giving a tip."

She simply shrugged. "I'm in my own house, and you've seen my tits before. Doesn't bother me very much, and judging by the look on your face, you enjoyed the view."

_Busted..._ "Okay, okay, I did. I'm not gonna deny it, I think you're _really_ good looking."

"You and most others, honey," Korra winked. "Anyway, not that I don't enjoy the company, but what brings you by?"

Asami took a deep breath and steeled herself. "I need you to come with me immediately. There's a very real chance Unalaq is going to stir up a lot of trouble if we try to do everything last minute, and then he could stop you from getting on my plane. Have you packed?"

"One suitcase is all I really need, but I haven't yet told Wushu, that was going to be my next stop. I also haven't said goodbye to Katara, that's really all I had left to do."

The businesswoman slowly nodded. "Alright, we'll stop by Wushu on our way back to the hotel. Get dressed and meet me outside, I'm here in a car I borrowed. Now I gotta get back out there, otherwise I'm worried they'll nick my wheels."

Korra laughed, and that sound alone was enough to put a smile on Asami's lips. "You go, I'll just be a minute."

Asami got back to her car, and it fortunately still had all four wheels attached. Instead of waiting for Korra here in this alleyway, she decided to drive around the block a few times until the callgirl was waiting outside, a single suitcase in her hand and the worn high school backpack on her back. "All packed?"

"All that I need for now."

Asami looked at her, and there was a hint of red in Korra's eyes. "Are you okay?"

A small sniffle escaped her. "It's just... I had to say goodbye to Katara. She did a lot for me when I'd hit hard times, and she was always there to take care of me. Even when I was on the mend again, nothing changed, she was the one to come to me with the offer of renting the loft of this place. I owe her so much, and given that she'll be turning 90 in a few months, I feel like this was the last time I'll see her."

The businesswoman took Korra's hand, giving it an affectionate squeeze. "How did she take it?"

"She told me that if I got an opportunity to get out of this life, I should grab it with both hands, no matter how it comes."

Asami gave her a small smile. "Sometimes you have to let go, because that's the only way you'll have both hands free."

A tear rolled down her cheek, and Asami decided it would be best for now to pull the callgirl into a tight hug, which was slightly awkward in the small car. Korra graciously accepted this, and they stayed like this for a little while. "Thanks, Asami. That really was what I needed right now."

"You're welcome." The businesswoman squeezed Korra's hand one more time, before pulling it back to put the car in gear. "Wanna go quit your job?"

The callgirl chuckled. "Yeah, probably a good idea." She directed them through town to the building, which was actually in a much nicer neighborhood than Korra's apartment. 'WES' was spelled out in Old English Text MT on the door, which Asami thought was a bit much, but it still worked. The building itself was in excellent condition, contrary to what she thought.

"Do you want to wait out here? I'll only be a minute," Korra said.

Curiosity got the better of her. "Nah, I'll come with you. Never seen a brothel on the inside before."

The callgirl smiled. "Okay, just keep your head down. The girls tend to get a little skittish when a woman shows up, because that usually ends with a client being dragged out by his balls."

This made Asami laugh hard. "Has that actually happened?"

"Well, maybe not exactly like that, but you wouldn't be the first pissed-off wife to show up after learning where her husband gets his kicks."

Still chuckling, the businesswoman stepped out of the car and followed Korra into the building. Even though it was hiding under the guise of an escort service, it was still just a brothel, but it didn't look like that on the inside. Everything was spotless, ranging from the bar, to the perfectly maintained red wallpaper with golden fleurs-de-lis on them, to the actually quite nice matte black doors inlaid with that same white 'WES' that she saw on the outside.

Basically, it could have passed for a reasonable hotel or something, were it not for the fact that the place was crawling with scantily clad women, all somewhere between 20 and 30, if Asami were to have a guess. There were a few men talking to them, but nothing illegal, no touchy-feely as of yet.

"What do you think?" Korra asked, making her way to the back of the room.

_Honestly, I have no idea what to think of this._ "Place looks nice, I'd almost consider staying here if it was a hotel."

Korra chuckled. "Look, I gotta go talk to Wushu, you make yourself comfortable, okay?" she said and turned to the bar. "Koko! Get her something to drink, will you?" With this, she walked around the corner, and Asami sat down on one of the stools, feeling slightly uncomfortable here.

"What can I get you, honey?"

Asami thought for a while, seeing basically nothing but bottles with alcohol on the shelf. _Bad idea, considering the fact that you have to drive a classic that isn't yours over very slippery roads back to your hotel._ "Do you have anything that isn't alcoholic?"

Koko made a face like Asami was speaking Chinese, but she played along. "I have Diet Coke," she said, not the least bit convincingly.

It was hard for the businesswoman not to laugh at the way she was so surprised by this, but she did graciously accepted the Coke.

"Given how there isn't a ring on your finger, and how you came in with Sapphire, I suspect you're not here for the company," the barmaid said.

"Nah, I'm just helping her tie up some loose ends."

A small smile played over Koko's lips. "Let me guess: she showed you a good time?" Her grin grew as she saw a small blush appear on Asami's face. "It's not that weird, Sapphire is usually the one to handle the women who call."

The small talk went on for a bit, but Asami kept a constant eye out to see if Korra was coming around the corner again, which she soon did, followed by a rather portly fellow, dressed in a purple suit, of all colors. And it wasn't just a very dark blue, it was bright purple. _In all honesty, it's the color a pimp would wear, and oh what a shock._

"Ready to leave?" Korra asked, Wushu still tracking her every move. "Red, this is Wushu, Wushu - Red. She's the one helping me out."

"So, you're taking one of my best girls, huh? Sad to see her go, she was a good asset."

Asami gently nodded but was also a touch revolted. It seemed that to this man, Korra, and in fact all of these women, were nothing more than a bunch of cash cows. "I'm a sucker for blue eyes," she snidely remarked.

He eyed her up, a small smile playing over his lips. "You're the one from 1206, aren't you?"

"That would be me." Suddenly, Asami had a bright idea, which would allow her to keep at least some bridges in the Southern Water Tribe intact. "A word?" she asked Korra, dragging her into a small hallway by the arm. "How'd you handle it with the money?"

"Gave him the money from last night, but he's still not too happy about it. Don't blame him, I was a good earner," the callgirl said with a cocky nod.

Asami smiled too. "I suppose that wouldn't help. Do you know if he has contact with any officials?"

Korra thought for a moment. "A few in the police department, and he at least has an ear at City Hall, not all men there are the perfect husbands and fathers the city likes to pretend they are. I've been over there a few times, Wushu gives them a pretty big discount in exchange for information and stuff - mostly small favors, nothing illegal."

The businesswoman's smile grew, knowing that it was a bridge worth saving. "Sounds good. You go to the car, I'll be out in just a second. Gotta make a small investment." They each went their separate ways, and Asami handed Wushu a stack of bills. "Consider this Sapphire's two-week notice," she said with a wink.

Wushu did a quick count of the bills, surprised at the amount. "You've got to be kidding me. You'd spend 1.500 yuans just like that?"

Asami just smiled. "The money is of very little concern to me, but keeping this relationship intact is. We'll be in touch." With that, she took off, taking her seat at the wheel of the Porsche again.

"What was that all about?" Korra asked with a confused look on her face.

"Gave him a wad of cash to act as your notice, make sure he'll play ball in the future. I used up my last favor with Varrick until I get a big project going again, which won't happen until your father is out of prison. If Wushu owes us a favor, we can use his contacts if we need to. Small investment for a big reward."

The ex-callgirl looked impressed. "That's very clever. Small wonder you made it to your position."

"Thanks," Asami smiled. "Unfortunately, I inherited it. My father left the company to me."

"Doesn't really matter. He chose his successor well." Korra dug around her pockets for her phone, checking it for the time. "Say, you wanna get some dinner? I know this place a couple of blocks away, they have the most amazing seaweed noodles. It would be a crime to have to freeze your ass off for two weeks and not have some proper Water Tribe food."

Asami's smile grew at the sincerity with which Korra said that. "If you say so, I'll believe you. Lead the way."

They went to a place not too far from the brothel, and it looked nice from the outside. One of those restaurants that had been open for so long that they didn't care about appearances as much as they used to. A run-down door, well-worn in the place where people always push it open, furniture where not every chair was matching, and pretty much every square inch of wall was covered with either paintings, photographs, or accolades of some sort. All in all, it was the coziest place Asami had been inside of in years.

Over dinner in a relatively private corner of the restaurant (the owner was familiar with Korra's face), Asami finally felt like she could relax. The plan was set in motion, the people following her would probably never think to look here, Jinora was making slow but steady progress building the case against Unalaq, the other deals were set, there were contacts left here in the South, but most importantly, Korra looked happy.

During their first night together, Asami knew that it was all just a facade. She was very good at covering it up, but there was constantly this whiff of disingenuity underneath everything. Made perfect sense of course, given that the businesswoman was just another client at that point, but now that had all faded.

They talked freely about everything and nothing, and it was simply lovely. It had been a long time since Asami'd had such a good time with someone.

Ultimately, they drove back to the hotel, making her way around the back of the hotel to park the Porsche back in the garage.

- _Koda won't be happy that you stayed away for so long._

_Meh, he can deal with it. It's in one piece and no one carved their name into the paintwork._

They both readied themselves for bed, making sure they wouldn't have to make too big an effort when they wanted to go, and mutually decided on one more episode of _The Walking Dead_ , picking up where Asami had last fallen asleep.

"What do you say, save the rest for the plane ride tomorrow?" Asami asked, already feeling her eyelids getting heavier.

"Hmm, sounds like a plan," Korra mumbled back, also feeling the strain of the day wearing on her.

With one last effort, they made it to the bed, with Asami feeling the cold seep through the blankets again. _One last time._ "Say Korra, do you think your ribs can take being the little spoon for the night?"

The ex-callgirl chuckled. "Yeah, I can handle that much. Bring it on."

Asami wouldn't pass up that invitation, so she wrapped her arms around Korra, and they both settled in for their last night in the Southern Water Tribe.

* * *

_Sorry for the long wait people. This chapter was absolutely kicking my ass, and I know that at first, I wanted to set this over two days, but it was taking long enough as is. Until next time._


	8. The Great Escape

**Thursday**

* * *

Asami hadn't slept much over the night. Thoughts like 'what if Varrick doesn't keep his word', _which, in all honesty, isn't **that** far-fetched,_ or 'what if I can't get her past URN customs' kept her awake, even though it hadn't seemed that important over dinner last night. But the more she thought about it as she was lying awake, the more real those possibilities seemed. They were all valid concerns. She had spent most of the night watching Korra sleep, _which doesn't sound at all creepy when you say it like that,_ but it had helped her. There was just something incredibly calming about the gentle but even rising of her side, the opposite side on which she was forced to sleep because those ribs were busted.

At multiple points, the businesswoman considered peeping under the armbands, which were perfectly within her reach, but decided against it at every turn.

- _Good thing too, what if she would have woken up?_

_She sleeps like the dead, little risk of that._

- _Still, it's not your place._

With a sigh, she had conceded, deciding that her voice of reason had a point there. Instead, she just resigned herself to the slightly creepy 'watching her as she sleeps', which worked fairly well for her peace of mind. Miraculously enough, the ex-callgirl's sixth sense seemed to be broken, as she didn't wake up once from the odd sense that she was being watched.

But when the morning finally did come, Asami was still tired and more nervous than she had ever been. The thought of 'what if something goes wrong' was more prevalent than ever, even though it wasn't very much a question what would happen. Chances were it would result in behind-the-shed executions or jail time for everyone involved.

Her train of thought was broken by a loud knock on the door. "Ushuaia Police, open up!" a brusque voice came from the other side.

 _Mother. Fucker._ Asami felt herself chill down to the bone, but for once, it wasn't because of the actual temperature of the room. She looked over to the ex-callgirl, who was still asleep. Deciding it would be best to play it open and try for the law, Asami quickly threw on a robe and combed her fingers through her hair, trying to make herself look a bit more presentable.

The businesswoman put the door on the chain, and saw three men standing in the hallway, one rather short, balding man with a leather jacket on, and two uniformed officers behind him. "Detective Anku," the bald man said, holding up his badge. "Open this door."

"Not until you tell me what you are here for. Until I have vacated this room, it's private property, and unless you have a warrant, I can simply turn you away and call hotel security."

This seemed to take the detective back a bit. "Miss Sato, we want to talk to you for a minute about the woman I can see sleeping in your bed." Asami looked over her shoulder and quickly berated herself for not closing the bedroom door behind her. "If you came here to exploit our liberal sexual labor laws, that constitutes a crime, and we have evidence that the woman I can see sleeping in your bed is a prostitute."

"No, I'm not!" Korra called out from the bed, also having woken up. "I quit my job yesterday, and I'm just staying the night with a friend. You can ask my used-to-be-employer, Wushu's Escort Service. Name is Sapphire. That's all I'll say to you, now go away."

Asami turned to the door with a smug smirk plastered in her face. "You heard her say it, now would you please leave?"

"Open this door," he said, unfazed by Korra's statement.

Deciding she could be more intimidating if she was in his face, Asami quickly undid the door chain and made herself big in the opening. "She just gave you her statement, which I know to be true, because I witnessed her resigning her job with my own two eyes. If you want to arrest us, that requires a warrant, and if you want to bring us in for questioning, we can refuse. If you decide to ignore all this, you'll be charged with a Civil Rights violation, something I know you've never been subjected to, because it's a charge that never doesn't end with badges and service revolvers being tossed on desks. On top of all that, I'm a very prominent United Republic citizen, and my arrest would cause a sticky international incident, in which your badge would be on the top of the demand-list from our State Department." She gave him an ice-cold stare, and he blinked first.

"Don't leave town," he said and turned on his heel, walking away, the two uniformed cops in tow. Asami smiled, knowing that she had just won a battle against Unalaq, but their war would rage on.

With a sigh, she closed the door, her heart pounding in her chest. "That was close."

Korra chuckled. " _That_ was brilliant. I've never seen someone flag down the police like that."

Asami fell back on the bed, as she could feel that her knees were about to give out on her. "Be that as it may, we need to get going, because they'll be back with arrest warrants, and when they do, I can't stop them again." She reached for her phone, dialing the private number of her co-pilot. "Ready the jet for departure, we're leaving within the hour. We need enough fuel to get to the RCX in one go, understand?"

"Right away, Miss Sato."

She turned to Korra with a smile. "We better get dressed, because I bought us a few hours at the very best. Now it's just a matter of persuading my driver to lend us that 50-year-old Porsche again."

The ex-callgirl smiled and quickly got out of bed. "Better get to it then." She pulled her shirt over her head, stepping towards her suitcase in nothing but her panties. Her smile grew as Asami grew red, definitely not expecting her to still be this open. "Relax, Sato, nothing you haven't seen before."

"Guess I'm just a little more modest than you," the businesswoman replied with a small voice.

- _On the other hand, you're **not** modest enough to turn around and let her dress in peace._

_I ... have no clever excuse for this one._

Asami turned back to her own suitcases, deciding on what she should and shouldn't pack. It was fairly obvious that without a crew and a large car to transport everything in, she'd have to leave most of what she brought behind. She decided that everything clothes-related would be moved down on the priorities list, much to her dismay. The most important things were all work-related and could easily be kept on her phone.

She ultimately decided to take just her smallest suitcase and fill that with everything work-related and her jewelry that some underpaid chambermaid might get tempted to take. Some of it had been her mother's, and she wouldn't forgive herself if it was stolen because her of own negligence.

"Say, do you think we have time for a shower or breakfast?" Korra asked, now thankfully dressed.

"There's a shower and food on the plane, no need to waste time here."

Her expression turned comically surprised, with her mouth literally hanging open. "Are you being serious here? A _shower_ on the plane?"

"Yes, it was a 60 million yuan plane, they throw in a shower for that, though the cupholders were extra. Now are you going to get ready or not?"

While Korra went to brush her teeth, Asami quickly dressed herself in the same clothes she had worn yesterday, before stuffing the essentials into the suitcase she'd be taking with her. She quickly followed Korra's example, put on her make-up (she'd rather go to prison than be caught outside without make-up on), before the women made their way downstairs.

Koda was in the lobby, staring intently at what was happening outside. "Asami!" he exclaimed as soon as he saw her. "Looks like your tail has become a convoy. I can only assume they're here for her?" the driver asked, nodding to Korra. Asami looked out as well, seeing a whole mess of police cars waiting outside, both marked and unmarked.

"They are," Asami replied. "They're waiting for an arrest warrant, so we have to scram before they get their hands on one, and I think you can figure out where I'm going with this."

He sighed. "You want to borrow my Porsche again."

"And I also kind of need you to create a diversion. Are there any maids that look like me and want to make a hefty tip easily?"

Koda thought for a moment, before he slowly started nodding. "There is one I can ask. You want me to drive slowly, stall them as long as I can?"

"Yes. Just buy us enough time to board the plane, you can dress her up in my clothes if you think that's what's necessary."

He held out his hand. "Will do. I'll tell the staff to send the rest of your stuff after you separately."

This put a genuine smile on Asami's face. "Thank you, Koda. You're a good man." He held out his hand, and the businesswoman shook it, before leaning in and pressing a kiss on his cheek, which made him blush furiously.

Koda held out the keys of the Porsche, nodding as Asami took them. "Good luck, Asami."

"You too. Take care." She and Korra walked to the garage, where the 911 beckoned. Truth be told, the businesswoman was a little nervous, because now, there was actual pressure to get to the airport quickly in a car that didn't have ABS, traction control, high-profile tires, four-wheel drive, crumple zones, airbags, seatbelts, or even headrests.

They quickly piled into the red Porsche, using Korra's phone for satnav. True to form, Asami avoided main roads, but when one is going to an airport, that's kind of inevitable. "Is it really necessary to drive this fast?!" Korra asked, probably scared half to death as the businesswoman was power sliding the 50-year-old machine around another slippery corner.

"We don't want to waste time, the slower we go, the bigger the chance we get caught."

"Yeah, but the faster you go, the bigger the chance we don't make it at all! Turn!"

Asami smiled, throwing the car expertly over to the other side, powering through. "Relax," she smirked. "Driving is what I do. I got this." Fortunately, the road soon straightened out, turning it into a rally stage, on which the 911 was brilliant, though Korra would disagree with that for all eternity. The rear-mounted engine meant they always had the grip on the powered wheels, but the slippery road of compacted snow did make steering quite difficult.

In the end though, they made it to the airport without crashing and arrived at the gate Varrick had designated. As they were about to go through, Asami's phone rang. And, worryingly enough, it was Varrick. "Sato, I got unmarked secret police vehicles at the gate, demanding to be let in. You better be at the airport, I don't know how much longer I can hold them off."

"I'm at the gate, about to drive to my hangar. Can you stall them?"

"They have a lot of guns and very heavy cars, so it'll be minutes at most. Hurry."

Asami felt a small wave of relief wash over her when the gate rolled to the side, allowing her onto the grounds of the airfield. With a loud rattle, the air-cooled flat six powered them quickly over the tarmac, towards the hangar she knew her plane to be in. More good news came when she saw that the runway itself was completely clean, all snow swept to the side.

"Well, this is it; the gateway to your new life," she smirked to her passenger when the massive doors of the hangar opened, revealing the grey hull of the Bombardier Global 8000. All business jets she ever encountered were white, and she could never understand why. To make it stand out among every other jet on the planet, she'd gone for a grey finish with a red stripe along the hull. The only recognizable feature it had on it was a small red cog on the tail, the logo of Future Industries.

"Damn..." Korra muttered. "You travel in style, don't you?"

Asami smiled at the look of bewilderment on the callgirl's face. "Of course I do, don't you know me at all?" She looked at the clock over the side exit, seeing that their time was nearly up. "Come on, we should get going before we have company." They quickly boarded the plane, both with one small suitcase in tow, much to the surprise of the crew.

"Miss Sato, who's that? And where's your luggage?"

"Don't ask unnecessary questions, just go, and quick. I'm expecting trouble."

Both Korra and Asami strapped themselves in on opposite ends of each other, and before long, the jet started taxiing towards the end of the runway. "Uhh, Asami, I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but do you think those are Unalaq's guys?" the ex-callgirl asked, pointing out of the window.

The businesswoman leaned over, seeing five black GMC Tahoes in single file powering down the tarmac. "Fuck me..." She unbuckled her seatbelt, making her way to the cockpit. "Either we take off immediately, or we all go to jail. Get us in the air, right now!"

The pilots shared a knowing look but complied. "Understood, buckle up. I'm gonna put this bird at 30.000 feet in 45 seconds, it's gonna be the hardest take-off you've ever felt."

Asami quickly made her way back to her seat, tightly doing up her belt.

"What's going on?" Korra asked, a sincere look of worry on her face.

"Just hold on tight, this is going to be uncomfortable," Asami said, grabbing her hand from across the aisle.

Next thing she knew, the roar of the engines increased dramatically, and the women were pushed back into their seats. "They're coming in hot!" Korra yelled, and the businesswoman looked out the window, seeing the motorcade overtaking them over the taxi strip, something that probably wasn't allowed.

"Full throttle!" the pilot yelled, and Asami felt another surge of speed and power come over the airplane. They left the cars in their dust, and before Asami could fully brace, the jet took to the skies at an incredibly steep angle, pushing them into their seats even harder. As the acceleration slowed but the angle remained the same, the businesswoman didn't quite feel comfortable letting go of Korra's hand. It wasn't until the jet started leveling out again, which was always the most uncomfortable part, as it made her very light in her head. "You okay there?" Asami asked when she saw just how unusually pale Korra was, which was very weird for someone with a naturally dark skin.

"No, I feel sick," she said, keeping her eyes firmly shut.

Asami reached over the aisle, handing her an air-sickness bag. "I know it's not very elegant, but I'd rather have you throw up in this than on the seats."

The ex-callgirl kept her eyes shut and grabbed the bag on feeling, while the flight-attendant came up to them. "Can I get you anything yet?"

A slight smile appeared on the businesswoman's face, as she could no longer suppress the schadenfreude that Korra's misery brought with her. She knew she should be feeling really bad for her, as this was indeed the roughest take-off Asami had ever been through. _And you have been through a lot of them, while it was Korra's first. Poor girl._ Her getting airsick was an almost guarantee. "I think we'll both stick with a glass of water. Ice in hers."

"Right away, Miss Sato."

The flight attendant turned away, and Asami squeezed Korra's hand again, who finally opened her eyes. "Hey," she said, and the weight of the situation finally dawned on her: she was free. A massive smile broke over the ex-callgirl's face, and then she started laughing so infectiously that Asami couldn't help but join in after a while.

She didn't really know how long they were laughing, but it came to an abrupt end when they hit some turbulence, juddering the plane, and it made Korra clutch her air-sickness bag a little tighter. She closed her eyes again, trying to shut the world around her out.

Asami squeezed her hand again, hoping to calm her nerves slightly. "Relax. Take deep breaths through your nose, in... and out... in... and out..." It went on like this for a while, before Korra finally started feeling better.

"Okay, I have officially decided: I hate flying."

This only made the businesswoman smile again; Korra hadn't left her sarcasm behind.

- _Who are you kidding, you'd still be smiling if she threw up over your shoes._

_Probably not._

- _You get the point._

_Yeah, fair enough._

"You want to go take a shower?" Asami asked, realizing she still hadn't done that.

Korra nodded and began to stand up. "Yeah, that would be..." She closed her eyes again and promptly fell back into her chair. "On second thought, you go first, I'm just gonna sit here for a while and try not to be sick."

The businesswoman couldn't help but chuckle at the dryness of the remark. "Yeah, probably a good idea. I'll try not to use all the hot water." She walked out to the back of the plane, where the shower was. Here, the roar of the engines was louder, but that would just motivate her to shower a little quicker.

Outside of being a bit cramped height-wise, the shower was fine. Asami was fairly tall at a smudge over 1.75 meters, but even so, standing up straight in the shower and still having the showerhead over her and not on her shoulder was pretty good.

Of course, she didn't have the immense space or luxury she had in her hotel room in Ushuaia or back in Republic City, but it was pretty good. Having dried and dressed herself, she walked back to the main cabin of the plane, where Korra was slowly working down a glass of ice water. "Feeling better yet?"

"Well, been better, been worse as well. Should be noted though, those times were typically preceded by massive amounts of alcohol." A slight smile appeared on her face. "What's your most recent bad hangover? And I'm not talking about a slight headache, I'm 'talking sprint-for-the-toilet-waking-up-with-a-stranger' type of thing."

Asami chuckled when she remembered the story she wanted to tell. "Well, my most recent one is going to cost you an embarrassing story as well."

"Fair enough. Go."

She thought for a moment how much she wanted to tell, because not everything was about her.

_On the other hand, the part of the story that isn't about me is about Opal, who she'll probably meet anyway._

- _Fair point, but it would be awkward if Korra were to open with 'Hey, aren't you the one who got black-out drunk on her own bachelorette's?_

_It's equal parts embarrassing for me._

- _Debatable._

With a sigh, she decided to tell it anyway. "Well, this was only a few weeks ago, shortly before I left for Ushuaia. My best friend, Opal Beifong, is getting married next month, so naturally, that required a bachelorette party. I know that it's normal to hold it closer to the wedding, but we're both really busy, so we decided to do it before I left. Anyway, me and a couple of others were put in charge of organizing the whole thing, and I insisted on keeping it decent for the first half of the night, which we did. Sort of."

"What fun is a bachelorette party if you keep it decent?"

"Not much, but that was only the dinner part. And it was decent, if you don't count the hunky topless waiters in tight spandex or the penis-shaped cocktail sticks." Asami chuckled. "As you can probably figure out from that, I was overruled. Anyway, we held it at a party center, and I bought it out weeks in advance, making sure the backdraft wouldn't hit us. After dinner, tables and everything were cleared out, and were replaced with a handful of bars, with free-flowing champagne. Bad decision. It took about two hours for everyone there to become massively drunk, me most of all."

Korra stared at her incredulously, before she started laughing out loud. " _You_ , stupidly drunk? Boy, that's a spectacle I would have loved to see."

"You and most others, honey," Asami winked back, which made a grin grow on both their faces. "It was a good thing I'd had the foresight to put my hair in a French roll, because... well, because of reasons."

The ex-callgirl had to think on this one for a moment, before giving an understanding nod. "You're 28, and yet still don't have the self-control to avoid that?"

"It was my best friend's bachelorette party, one last chance to go all out with her like we did in college. And anyway, it wasn't the worst for me, because me and Opal woke up in my bed, together. As far as we had been able to piece together, we didn't have sex, and the only reason we ended up back at my place was because it was close to the venue. Now outside of the 'nausea, dry throat, splitting headache'-thing, the hangover wasn't too bad for me, and it was much worse for Opal. Turns out, she got an ankle bracelet tattoo, which was pretty bad. When we retraced our steps, the fuck-up landed on me, because the place I'd booked was just around the block from a tattoo parlor. So while Opal got hers, I was waiting for my turn to get one as well, only when I stood up to get mine, I lost my balance and threw up on the shop floor. That's when the parlor had enough of us and he kicked us out."

The smile on Korra's face was enough to make it worth it. "Okay, I'll admit, that's pretty bad. Not as bad as mine, though." She lifted her shirt slightly, revealing the Colt .45's tattooed on her waist again. "One day after a night of heavy drinking, I woke up with one of these, but because I hate asymmetry, I went back and had the other one done as well. It was worse for my friend, who got a tramp-stamp with 'slut' written in it in massive white letters. God, I mercilessly laughed at her."

Asami laughed too. "Okay, you win. Your fuck-up was bigger. Still, your turn for a proper story."

The ex-callgirl thought for a while, and then she chuckled. "Well, I might just have something like that. Do you know the Glacier Spirits Festival?"

The name sounded vaguely familiar to Asami, but it didn't really mean much to her. "Rings a bell, but I'm a bit hazy on the details."

Korra nodded. "Well, it's the biggest festival here in the Southern Water Tribe, and naturally, it's held right here in Ushuaia. It lasts a week, and people from all over the world come to see it, because it's during the Winter Solstice, which is actually the middle of summer for us, but you know, Northern dominance and all that." Asami smiled at the dry remark. "Anyway, it kind of goes without saying that it's also the busiest time of the year for me. Plenty of husbands find it a good excuse to cheat on their wives, 'out of sight, out of mind', being the prevailing theory. Towards the end, I was tired, it had been a long week, lots of clients, so..." She hesitated, and Asami swore she saw something resembling a blush appear on Korra's face. "Well, let's just say that I was a bit stretched out down there, know what I mean?"

The businesswoman chuckled, definitely seeing the humor that a professional hooker still had the demeanor of a sixth grader when it came to actually _talking_ about sex. "I think I get where you're going."

It made her smile and brought her confidence back. "So on the last day, I was bought by some really fat guy from Ba Sing Se for 24 hours. It's slightly unusual but not unheard of. What it basically meant was that he got to parade me around for the day, pretending that I'm some sort of trophy girlfriend. Now I'm a professional, so I didn't really care about how he looked, because in that business you learn to ignore that after a while. But what _did_ bother me, was that this guy was an asshole, in every sense of the word. He was rude, loud, impolite, all that stuff. But again, I just played my part, smiled and nodded, because that's what he's paying me for."

She took a breath, pausing for a moment. "At the end of the day, we went back to his hotel, he bought us dinner, which actually wasn't too bad. After that, it was back to his room, and what I always did with men like him, was get myself cold somehow, making it look like I actually _want_ them. In this case, the most readily available way was a cold shower. I quickly rinsed off, nipples hard from the cold, stepped out, and I swear to God this is true: he was there, butt-naked, on the bed, head propped up on one arm like he's Chris fucking Hemsworth. I look over him, already trying to repress the urge to raise an eyebrow, because his dick was absolutely miniscule."

The story had already succeeded in lifting Asami's spirits, as a grin already broke across her face. That didn't take away from the fact that she had a feeling the story was only about to reach its peak.

"I believe that at that point, he said something along the lines of: 'Babe, I hope you're used to earthquakes, 'cause I'm gonna rock your world.' Now by then, my resolve had completely vanished, so I took one more look at his dick and say: 'With that? It's gonna be more like tossing a hotdog down a hallway.' I couldn't help it. It just slipped out."

Asami burst out in a gush of laughter, finding the remark completely fitting in the broader context Korra had laid out. It took her quite a while to regain her composure, because every time she glanced over to the ex-callgirl's ever-present smirk, she constantly found herself snickering again. "Did you really say that?" she asked once she had sufficiently calmed down again.

"I did," Korra chuckled. "Oh man, the look on his fucking face. I felt so powerful. Needless to say, he was livid and barely had the courtesy to let me get somewhat dressed again before he kicked me out. I only had the advance left, which was half of the fee, but _by God_ , was that worth it."

It took a good while to get all the laughs out, but when they did, they decided it was time for breakfast. Asami knew it would be a ten-hour flight back home, so they would have plenty of time to kill, but if this was any indication, that wouldn't be a problem at all.

Turns out, she was totally right. The women made short work of the excellent breakfast, and Asami could just tell that Korra had to restrain herself not to make any snide remarks about in-flight meals. Afterwards, the ex-callgirl went to shower as well, amazed by the plane's facilities. The businesswoman used this time to make the final arrangements for their arrival, quietly making a few phone calls home to ensure everything would be in place. Lunch soon rolled by as well, before Korra decided to make good on her promise, and they finished the first season of _The Walking Dead_ , making a start on the second season as well. At multiple points during the flight, they had to pause it, simply because the weather was perfect, and they couldn't let the gorgeous scenery of the Earth Kingdom States pass by. Part of Asami knew that she should be using the time in the plane more productively, but that wasn't on the forefront of her mind right now.

Over the course of their binge-watching, they started out next to each other on the sofa in the lounge, but as the episodes went on, Korra sunk further and further into Asami's side. Ultimately, they ended up pretty much stretched out over the couch, the ex-callgirl entirely on top. Asami couldn't really tell if it was because of the flying or because the police had woken them up so early, but they were both exhausted and fell into a companionable nap.

They were rudely awoken when the pilot's voice suddenly broke over the intercom. "Ladies, we're about fifteen minutes out from the RCX airport, so prepare yourself for the landing."

Asami knew this wasn't what she wanted, and she had planned for this. Unalaq would have undoubtedly informed customs that she was carrying an unauthorized person on board, so they couldn't go to one of the largest airports in the world. She stood up, walking to the cockpit. "Gentlemen, change of plans. We're not going to RCX anymore, I want you to reroute us to Dunsfold."

Dunsfold was a small airfield about an hour from the RCX by car, but only ten minutes by plane. It was one of the many, many airfields that still littered the former coastline of the western Earth Kingdom after the Great War with the Fire Nation 70 odd years ago. Some had been turned into drag strips or used as basis for racetracks, but plenty of them still functioned as private airfields.

This presented an opportunity for the rich and famous, because competition between these airfields was stiff. If they had nitpickers and bean-counters in their customs checks, people would often go elsewhere. Of course, things like weapons and drugs would get picked out, but Asami had used the leniency in Dunsfold's policy many times to smuggle in small contraband, like a few bottles of Fire Nation whiskey, which was strictly speaking illegal, but nothing to really worry about. The airfield needed her more than she needed the airport, because not only did it house two of her planes and her helicopter, it also served as the basis for all of Future Industries' flights.

This was where she'd have the best chance of getting Korra into the United Republic without getting burned.

- _It's still going to require a lot of luck, though._

_Meh, no one prospers without a little luck._

- _Good point._

"You couldn't have mentioned this earlier?" the pilot asked, a little ticked off. "We've already began our pre-landing checks."

"I pay you by the hour, not by the flight. Reroute us to Dunsfold." With this, Asami walked back to her seat, and the plane soon began to bank slightly towards its new destination.

Korra looked slightly worried. "Is everything going alright?"

"Relax, I have everything planned out. All you need to do, is play ball. Let me do the talking, and it will work out." She briefly fell silent and took the ex-callgirl's hand, brushing her thumb over her knuckles. "Do you trust me?"

"I don't really have a choice, now do I?" she nervously chuckled, though her expression quickly turned more serious. "Joking aside, with everything you've already done for me, I know I can trust you. It's just that, with everything that isn't in your hands, how can you be so confident?"

"Because thinking it's not going to work will only make it fail. Trust me, I know how high the stakes are. If this goes wrong, I'll be put in a box for the next ten years."

Korra chuckled. "And you're willing to risk that for a hooker you barely know?"

"No, but I am for an amazing woman who has been wronged at every turn. Like I said back in Ushuaia, you deserve a bit of good luck as well."

The ex-callgirl's smile changed for the genuine, when the pilot's voice came over the intercom again. "We are go for touchdown, so fasten your seatbelts please. Weather is good, so there should be nothing to worry about." Asami could feel the plane quickly lose altitude, seeing the city disappear behind the mountains.

Fortunately, her pilots were good, so it was true, the landing was quite smooth. The Bombardier lazily taxied to the hangar, and the sight made Asami smile. As she looked out the window, she saw her own Rolls-Royce Ghost (brushed aluminum hood on a black body) waiting for them, her driver neatly standing beside it.

"Welcome back, Miss Sato," San said when she exited the plane.

"Good to be home," she said, feeling the hot air hitting her as soon as the door opened. "Did you bring what I asked you to?"

He nodded, removing an envelope from his inner pocket. "Not quite sure why, but you don't have to tell me."

A customs official came walking out at them. Luckily for them, he seemed to be about their age, 30 years or so. _All you have to do is make him an offer he can't refuse._ "Welcome back to the United Republic. Can I see some identification?"

Asami pulled her passport out of her purse, handing it over, before nodding towards Korra, who came out of the plane as well. San saw her, raising an eyebrow, but he didn't say anything.

The official turned to Korra after handing Asami back her passport. "You too, Miss."

"I have that right here," the businesswoman interrupted and handed him the envelope. "She's not dangerous, and she's not here against her will. All you have to do to earn that, is walk out that door, and report everything as just fine."

He hesitantly stared at the 10.000 yuans in the envelope, clearly weighing his options.

"How long have you been married?" Asami asked, noticing the ring on his finger.

"About two years now."

"Kids?"

"Second one is on the way."

A slight smile appeared on the businesswoman's face, which had a bit of a morbid side to it. _It's kind of like forcing his integrity to dig its own grave at gunpoint._ "That right there could pay for a lot of diapers and visits to the pediatrician, and the only people who know that you have it are in this room. No one is going to hold it against you, because no one knows. And all you have to do, is let her get into the car with me," Asami finished, nodding towards Korra.

After an agonizingly long silence, during which Asami could practically hear the ex-callgirl's heart thumping in her chest at about 200 beats per minute, the customs official stuck the envelope in his inner pocket. "Welcome to the United Republic, Miss," he nodded to Korra, before turning on his heel and walking away.

Both women let out a massive sigh of relief, before Korra pulled Asami into a bone-crushing hug, pressing a series of kisses on her cheek, before burying her face in the crook of her neck. "Thank you," she murmured. "Thank you, thank you, thank you..." The businesswoman could feel her shoulder getting soggy, but right now, she couldn't really care less.

They stayed like that for a good while, but eventually, Asami thought it was time to get going again. "Hey," she carefully whispered. "Want me to take you to my home?"

Korra finally pulled back and, in probably the most undignified move ever, wiped her nose and cheeks on her sleeve. "Yeah," she said, her massive smile still on her face. "I'd like that."

There was nothing Asami wanted more right now than to be with her, but she knew that things weren't going to be that simple. Once again, she'd have to be cleverer than everyone else.

* * *

_If the name 'Dunsfold' sounds familiar to you, there is a very good reason for that: it's the airfield that houses the Top Gear test track. The story of there being many airfields in the URN is inspired by the real situation in the southeast of England, where there are many left-over airfields from WWII._

_Also, if you're wondering about how Unalaq knew where Korra was: all will be explained, no worries._


	9. Back in the City

**Thursday evening**

* * *

"Whereto, Miss?" San asked once Asami and Korra had made themselves comfortable on the backseat of the Rolls-Royce Ghost.

"Take us to the Estate, please."

With this, San was so surprised that he turned around, something he ordinarily never did. "I'm sorry, do you mean the Sato Estate?"

Asami nodded. "I do, and I'm very certain."

The driver decided not to question her any further, and set off, the ride being as smooth as silk. Korra was too occupied with looking out the window, seeing all the amazing sights they were driving past. Asami noticed San knew this as well, as he drove over the mountain range on the outside of the city which was a slightly longer route, but offered a spectacular view of Downtown Republic City below, which looked even better because of the dusk.

"What do you think?" the businesswoman asked after a while.

Korra was struggling to find the words. "It... it's _amazing_. I mean, I've seen it on TV and such, but I had no idea it was _so_ big. Makes Ushuaia look like Hicksville in the middle of nowhere."

Asami chuckled. "Well, eight million people will do that to a city. Lived here all my life, and I don't quite think there's anything like it."

"Ladies, I'm sorry to interrupt, but we're here," San said as he clicked open the gates to the Sato Estate. They slowly rolled up over the long driveway of the massive estate, before the Ghost made a slow turn around the fountain, stopping halfway through when they were right in front of the doors to the mansion.

" _This_ is your house?!" the ex-callgirl asked, completely astounded by the size of the mansion.

"Yep, it's mine." However, it made Asami feel guilty, because she'd have to cover it up with half-truths.

- _Serves you right, you're lying to her._

_She looks so happy, I just want to let her be like that for a while._

- _The higher she climbs, the harder she falls. You're going to have to be straight with her at some point._

The door slamming shut broke Asami from her train of thoughts, as she saw that Korra had already gotten out of the car, and was admiring the mansion directly. The businesswoman decided to join her, as it had been a while since she'd gone here. "What do you think?"

"It looks even bigger than Unalaq's palace, so I think we'll survive this incredible hardship just fine."

- _ **Tell her!**_

"Korra..." The hesitant tone on which Asami started made the ex-callgirl look up, and hint of worry on her face. "I can't stay here. It's mine, and you can, but I live in a penthouse downtown."

She didn't seem to understand, was what Asami made of her expression. "Are you dumping me here?"

The businesswoman sighed, not really knowing how to soften the blow on this one. "No, I..." She fell silent. "Korra, I'm a public figure. If you are seen with me in my apartment the press is going to hound you, someone is going to put together who you really are, and that will make it more difficult for us to get your parents out of prison. Trust me, it's better for both of us if you keep your head down for the time being."

"So what? You're just keeping me here until I'm useful to you?"

"No, of course not!" Asami took a deep breath. "Korra, you are free to go whenever you want. I would _like_ your input with your parents, but if you don't want to stick around, that's fine too. I'm going to get them out either way, but you need to lay low. I don't know how much Unalaq knows, but he knows something, and it's bound to be bad for both of us."

After giving it a moment's thought, Korra nodded. "Okay. I'll stick around, don't worry. It's just..." She sighed. "I don't want to fall back to my old ways, know what I mean?"

Asami nodded. "I think I do. Just promise me that you'll be patient, okay? Then it'll work out."

Korra laughed. "Not really my strongest suit, but okay."

The businesswoman laughed too. "For now, I just think it's better that we go our separate ways. How about, tomorrow afternoon, you have San take you to my office, we can get started on your parents out of prison?"

"Sounds like a plan."

Asami smiled. "Don't worry about becoming bored, there's a movie theater, a pool, a library, and a gym, though it doesn't smell like blood," she added with a chuckle.

Korra laughed too. "I think I'll manage such difficult conditions," she sarcastically commented.

The businesswoman took a deep breath. "There is one thing I will ask you, and that's not to use the master bedroom. There are a dozen bedrooms in the house, so I think you can find one that takes your fancy."

A slight smirk appeared on the ex-callgirl's face. "A dozen?" she asked while raising an eyebrow. "Boy, either you're planning for huge family, or you're overcompensating."

"I like to be prepared," Asami smirked back. "Anyway, see you tomorrow?"

Korra leaned forward, pressing a kiss on her cheek. "Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow."

Asami finally let go of her hand, something she didn't really realize she was holding. She took her suitcase from the trunk, and walked to the garage, because the only reason she went here every now and again was to swap cars. Her penthouse downtown only had a couple of parking spaces, far more than Asami had cars, so she stored quite a few of them here at the Estate.

With her code, she was in, and now came the hard choice: what car to take with her. Including, but not limited to, were parked in front of her: a Porsche 918, a Noble M600, a Lamborghini Aventador Roadster, a Pagani Huayra, a Jaguar F-Type Coupé, a BMW i8, a Tesla Model S, and last but not least, the car Asami decided on taking home: her dark red Ferrari F12 Berlinetta.

Finally being behind the wheel of a modern car again after nearly two weeks again was liberating. Sure, Koda's Porsche was very special, but there was just something deeply enjoyable about having 730 horsepower under your right foot.

Korra was still waiting for her to come out of the garage, so when she rolled past the fountain, the ex-callgirl smiled at her when the red monster rolled past. Asami smiled back, gave her a quick honk, and was off, riding back home where she would finally sleep in the comfort of her own bed again.

* * *

**Friday**

* * *

Normally after returning from a business trip, Asami was glad that she could sleep in her own bed again. After all, there's no place like home.

- _Should be noted that this is more like the building that happens to have your bed in it._

_Yeah, good point._

Asami didn't really have a home anymore, not since she was 14. The double garage unit she rented downstairs that she had converted into the place where she could restore her classics felt more like home to her than this penthouse.

Today was different though. After slapping her alarm off, the businesswoman knew she had to go into the office, explain to her board how the deal with the shipyard had fallen through. Part of her was hoping that Varrick hadn't yet blabbed about it, but most of her knew that was just clutching up straws, and that she'd be fighting an uphill battle today.

She would also have to get started on Tonraq and Senna's cases, which would mean including Jinora, and it was promising to be difficult. Unalaq would do everything in his power to prevent his brother from ever breathing free air again, and Asami had lucked out when she made her escape. At best, Unalaq would try running a smear campaign, discredit her in public. Of course, that would be a long shot, but being a relatively public figure, it wouldn't be too hard a thing to do, provided he could find some proof that she ordered a callgirl.

That detective had been right, to Asami's knowledge, sex tourism was illegal in both countries involved, so there might be something to his threat.

But none of that explained the unease Asami felt right now. She liked a challenge, and talking her board into doing what she wanted was something of a specialty to her. Unalaq wouldn't want to risk exposure like her theory suggests, as it would involve getting Korra into the witness stand, which would have the same effect as giving her a soap box. That would be a last resort for him, so she was pretty well sorted there.

So why was she feeling so down? It had to be something else, something less elaborate, something...

_Korra._

Asami shut her eyes again, knowing that was probably true. Even though it was summertime in Republic City, she missed having those strong, tattooed arms around her, the warmth they brought with them, the comfort.

With a resigned sigh, Asami threw her sheet off, and decided to think on the particulars of their, as of yet, non-existent relationship later. Right now, she had to get ready for battle.

After a quick bite of bacon and eggs (breakfast of champions) and a shower, it was time for Asami to pick her wardrobe, and she had to do it carefully. It had to be authorative, but she couldn't just get away with a suit. It would be 26 degrees Celsius outside, for crying out loud. Also, certain sets were incomplete due to her leaving most of her luggage in Ushuaia, though those were mostly winter clothes.

Right now though, browsing through her elaborate collection of clothes was the best option she had, which was when she struck gold: white.

It had been a recent purchase, one she knew to be risky. Not so much because of the design, that was actually pretty modest. It had a high-closing neck, and while it did expose her shoulders and arms, the dress itself reached almost to her knees, so it ticked the 'conservative'-box. No, white was simply a dangerous color for her to wear because she liked getting her hands dirty, and by extension, her clothes got dirty too.

She decided against wearing any jewelry, and for that extra bit of intimidation, went for open pumps with considerable heels, making her appear even taller than she already was.

Having done her hair up in an elaborate bun, Asami looked at herself in her full-length mirror, and was glad she had spent her Monday afternoon in the gym with Korra. The dress was _very_ form-fitting, but because of its relatively modest design, wasn't improper. She was ready.

Even though it was only a short distance from her penthouse to her office, she decided to take her F12 again (the dark red paint went great with her dress,) keeping the noise to a discreet level when she rolled back into the parking garage underneath the Future Industries Tower.

It was a marvel of engineering, really. Standing tall at 100 stories, it was the highest building in Republic City, and the construction had of course been done by the company itself. Hiroshi himself had actually laid the groundwork, though he never got to see the completed structure. It was a gorgeous building, staged on the outside, with an entirely glass facade.

Asami's office was on the 28th floor, for reasons she had never really been able to work out. Her predecessor had chosen it before she became of the age where she could take over the company in accordance with her father's will, and she had inherited this office as well. Not that Asami really cared, it was a beautiful office, spacious, lots of light, and it had everything she could desire, ranging from a comfortable sitting area to a beautiful matte glass desk.

"Good morning, Nikita," Asami greeted her assistant.

"Miss Sato! Welcome back. How was your trip?"

Asami smiled. "Well, it was cold, but other than that it was fine. How have things gone around here?"

Nikita sighed, obviously not looking forward to breaking bad news. "The board has heard what happened with the shipyard deal, and they are furious. You're going to have to give them a very good explanation in the review."

"Leave that part to me. How long have I got?"

"Ten minutes, they're assembling as we speak."

Asami nodded. "Alright, let me know when they're ready." She went inside her office, dropping her purse next to her chair. The stack of documents on her desk betrayed that it was probably going to be a long day, something she didn't have time for right now. Instead, she used the ten minutes she had to thumb through them, making a couple of piles sorted by varying degrees of urgency. Of course, multiple piles meant three, one of which just happen to end up in the shredder. _Oh, how inconvenient._

"They're ready for you," Nikita's voice came over the phone.

"Thank you." Asami made her way over to the conference room, taking one last deep breath before throwing the double doors wide open. She was met with the sight of a dozen or so middle-aged men in grey suits, all speaking to each other in small groups. "Gentlemen," she opened, immediately commanding all attention. "Let's have a seat, and be done before lunch."

Everyone complied, and Asami took her seat at the head of the table. "Now, I'm fairly certain that you will be harboring a certain degree of resentment towards me, which is understandable."

"'Resentment' would be an understatement," Loban offered up. Even though he wasn't a man the businesswoman would ever have over for dinner, he was a very effective manager. "Miss Sato, you have cost this company millions now that this deal doesn't go through. Care to explain why you blew up at Chief Unalaq? Varrick seemed fairly adamant that it was because you assumed he was a bigot."

"He didn't deny it." Asami sighed, because that argument sounded weak, even in her head. "We have already discussed this past Saturday, Unalaq was having second thoughts either way. I haven't been able to swing him back to our side."

"You didn't need to insult him along the way," someone offered up.

This was exactly the reaction she had been afraid of, because it was true. She flagged Unalaq down, definitively killing all opportunities to fix their deal. "I know. That was my mistake, which I will own up to. But rather than just sit here and let you blame me all day long, I'd rather spend our time productively. What are our options?"

It briefly stayed silent, before one of them dared to speak up. "We've been planning for possible failures, but none of those options are desirable. Varrick wants it to happen in the Southern Water Tribe."

Asami slowly nodded. "Fair enough, but what if we move it to the other side of the South Sea? The Southern Earth Kingdom states would have the added benefit of cheap labor force, and we could make a difference there."

Kao didn't seem impressed. "There's a reason labor is so cheap down there, it's because no one wants to set up projects. Terrorism isn't uncommon, so safety would be a concern. That, and many people there don't have a very positive opinion on either us or the Southern Water Tribe."

"So that's basically out of the question." The businesswoman took a moment, because she knew this was going to be the hardest part: convincing these men to let her handle this without telling them any details. "Gentlemen, I know this is hard for you. Many of you have invested time and energy in this project, but I'm afraid that until we get our approval from the Southern Water Tribe, we have to shelve this project." An audible sigh went through the room. "However, don't give up on it just yet. I have a plan, but unfortunately, I can't tell you any of the specifics."

It was Loban to speak up. "Are you being serious here? You got us into this mess, and now you expect us to trust you?"

"I expect you to trust that I am capable of pulling us out of this mess again. How many times have I let you down over the past five years?" A slight smile played over her face, because she knew the answer was 'none'. "What I am planning on requires secrecy above all else, and the fewer people are involved, the better it is for everyone. Now are you prepared to trust me to handle this, or are you going to block me, definitively stopping this project from ever seeing the light of day?"

Nobody answered, mostly because they knew they didn't really have a choice. Unalaq couldn't be swayed back, and if they would stop Asami now, it would cost them a lot of money.

- _You're lucky to have a perfect track-record up until now, otherwise this would never have worked._

_But since I have one of those, it did work!_

- _Just don't let it go to your head._

"Anyway, I suggest we drop this subject for now. How is the progress on the Fire Nation oil rig?"

That was Loban's baby, so he spoke up. "It's about four weeks from launch, and perfectly on schedule. We've had some trouble with Greenpeace, but I pledged 500.000 yuans to keep them happy for now. 50.000 a week, starting last week. They've been quiet since then."

"Good."

It soon hit lunchtime, and even though Asami wasn't feeling much more hopeful now than she was an hour ago, spending some time with her best friend would probably cheer her up a little bit.

She sat down at their mutually favorite restaurant, at least when it came to lunch, mostly because it was close to both Future Industries and Beifong Enterprises.

"'I'll only be gone for two weeks,' she says. 'It'll be fine,' she says." Asami turned around, seeing Opal stand there, a smirk on her face. "And here I am, left alone to pull my hair out over planning the wedding."

The businesswomen enveloped each other in a big hug, happy to see each other again. "Hmm, I did miss you, Ope."

"Yeah, I missed you too. How was the South Pole?"

Asami chuckled. "Cold. Won't be going back there anytime soon. How's the wedding coming along?"

"A bit of help would have been nice! I'm going crazy over this thing!"

"Opal, you've always been a control freak, and about this more than anything else. You could have let Bolin help you, it's also his wedding."

Opal sarcastically snorted. "Yeah right. Don't get me wrong, I love him 'till the end of the world, but you know just as well as I do that he couldn't plan game night with Mako if he wanted to."

"What about Jinora?" Asami curiously inquired. Opal and Jinora were good friends, there shouldn't be any reason she wouldn't help out.

- _You mean aside from the obvious one of you hijacking all of her time?_

_Oops. Forgot about that one._

"Yeah, she helped me last week, but then she was suddenly really busy with work this week. Oddly vague on the details." Opal suddenly got an inquisitive look on her face. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

"Sorry. Company secret."

"So you do know about it."

Asami sighed, because it became painfully apparent that she had just allowed herself to get backed into a corner. "Yeah, I do. I'll make it up to you. How about, tomorrow, we sit down, and I make up for all the lost time?"

Opal scoffed. "Well, you better get to it, because you still have to be fitted for your bridesmaid's dress. Jinora fits perfectly in hers, but we fitted her last weekend."

"You're not gonna let me live this down, are you?"

A slight smile appeared on Opal's face. "Of course not. Alright, one more thing I need to know: do you have a plus one yet?"

Asami sighed, because she kind of had one in mind. Asking Korra to come to the wedding was tempting, but that would present a whole mess of problems. Figuring out what their relationship was right now would be slightly awkward, with Korra living in her house and basically depending on Asami, but then again, not addressing the unspoken questions hanging between them wasn't a good option either. "I'm working on it," the businesswoman non-committedly said. "Keep my options open."

Opal didn't seem impressed. "That's pretty thin, but I suppose it's progress. When do I get to meet her?"

_Fuuuuuck, another thing you didn't consider._ "Soon, undoubtedly. I promise you, if I take her to your wedding, you'll get to meet her beforehand."

At this, Opal nodded with a vague smile. "Sounds like a plan."

Back after lunch, Asami was thumbing through the contract for the oil drilling right in Fire Nation sovereign waters when her buzzer went. "Miss Sato, there's a woman here to see you. Says her name is Korra."

A slight smile appeared on her face. "Ah yes, I'm expecting her. Send her through."

Since the line didn't disconnect straight away, she just knew that Nikita was hesitant with sending her in.

- _I mean, really? Are you even surprised?_

_Meh, I suppose people like being judgmental._

- _There you go._

When the ex-callgirl stepped into her office, Asami took a good long look at her, smiling as she did. Korra was wearing low sneakers, white hotpants with a simple brown belt, neatly off-setting her dark skintone, along with a light grey crop-top with a Southern Water Tribe-crest on it. This exposed her abs, and in turn, the guns tattooed on her waist. In the light of Asami's office, the colors on her arm stood out, even though they were covered up with the same armbands she had worn on their second encounter: white with a grey tribal design on them.

It was clear that she was fairly impressed with the office, given how wide her ice-blue eyes spread open at the sight of it. _Simply beautiful._

- _Ahem._

_Shut it._

"Holy shit..." she muttered. "This place is bigger than the shed I lived in..."

Asami instantly felt a pang of guilt go through her. She hadn't even considered that when she invited Korra to come up here, mostly because she kind of took it for granted. "You like it?"

Korra chuckled. "I'll admit, Sato, you've got style."

It made the businesswoman smile too. "Thank you. How'd your first night at the Estate go?"

"Pretty smooth. Like you said, plenty of rooms to choose from and plenty of things to do. I've been going to hotels for nearly a decade and I've never seen anything like that."

A pang of nostalgia shot through Asami. "It was my mom's baby. She basically designed it herself, part of the reason I've never sold it."

Korra smiled. "Looks like you've inherited her knack for it. This place looks great too."

"Thank you." It briefly fell silent between them, when Asami snapped her fingers. "Well, as much as I'd love to talk interior decoration all day long, we have business to take care of." She got up from behind her desk, smiling at Korra's reaction.

They went to the elevator, preparing to go to see Jinora. When the doors opened, they revealed one older man already in it, facing the women. He took a look at them both, raising an eyebrow as his line of sight quickly raked over Korra's body. As the elevator went up, Asami could feel the tension between them rise, finally cut when the elevator stopped and the man got out.

"What the fuck was his problem?!" Korra fumed as soon as the doors closed. "I mean, come on! That guy was looking at me like I have a swastika tattooed on my forehead!"

"Korra, calm down, there are a lot of people here not used to much. And I don't mean to be rude here, but I think it's the guns, and even though I hate to say it, I think he's partially right."

This had the ex-callgirl flabbergasted. "I thought you liked them?"

"I do, it's just that..." Asami sighed. "Look, without wanting to get all conspiracy crazy, police here and... dark-skinned people, they aren't exactly on the best of terms right now. I think it would be best if you don't go out in public with those hanging out."

Korra thought for a moment. "That bad, huh?"

Asami gently nodded. "Look, I think they're fine, but it's true, at first glance, it looks like you're armed. People could have problems with that."

She chuckled. "Yeah, I suppose." Another chuckle came before she shook her head. "People are assholes."

"And plenty of them are inside this building," Asami agreed. The elevator slowed down again, this time on the floor of the legal department.

Jinora had a rather simple office, though it made sense for someone of her age. Hell, having your own office with actual walls, blinders in front of the windows, and her own cabinet for books and other things at 23 is pretty much unheard of. But seeing how Jinora was absolutely brilliant, Asami had endured the shouting session from her board when she had kept her on and the amount of money that had cost her.

"Hey Jinora," the businesswoman opened when she stepped in, smiling at the amount of paperwork on her desk. "Busy?"

Jinora looked up, a tired look on her face. She was wearing a simple white blouse with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, her orange cardigan draped over her chair. "Kind of, this case of yours is driving me..." At this point, she fell silent, and Asami assumed it was because Korra had stepped into the room. "Ho-ly shit..." she mumbled.

"Korra, this is Jinora Gyatso, my resident legal expert. Jinora, this is Korra Amarok."

Jinora's mouth had literally fallen open, and even when Korra held out her hand, she was too dazed to shake it.

"You sure you didn't put something in her coffee?" Korra sarcastically asked, turning back to Asami.

"Fairly."

"I'm sorry," Jinora said, regaining herself. "It's just a little but much to digest. Asami, you are aware that when you want to bring home a souvenir, you bring back a mug or a beach towel, not _the lost heir to the fucking throne_!"

Asami smiled. "What can I say, I'm one for non-conformity."

"And you two already met when you called me from Ushuaia?" Jinora continued.

"We did, that's why I asked you to do that background check. Needed to make sure her story checked out, and when it did, I brought her back with me. Now it's up to you to make sure that we get Tonraq and Senna out of prison."

At this, the ex-callgirl seemed unconvinced. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. You're gonna be trusting the fate of my parents to someone who's barely old enough to drink?"

Jinora folded her arms. "Yeah, insults have always been a great way to break the ice."

"Feeling's mutual."

Asami decided to step up. "Korra, Jinora is one of the best people in the legal field I've ever seen. I once stuck her in a room with six 1500-yuan-an-hour lawyers on an issue, and two hours later, they were fetching her coffee and sandwiches."

A vaguely impressed look appeared on the ex-callgirl's face. "Really?"

The legal expert chuckled. "Yeah, that was a good day." She held up her hand for Asami and Korra to sit down, which she did as well. "Anyway, you have bigger problems than that right now." Jinora turned her laptop around, revealing an arrest warrant for Asami.

"Well, I'll be fucked. What's the charge?"

"Obstruction of justice and evading arrest. Now I'm just gonna go out on a whim here, but I'm guessing she has something to do with it?" Jinora asked, gesturing to Korra.

Asami nodded, fairly certain the truth would surface soon enough.

"These charges are pretty vague. What'd you do?"

"Police told me to stay put, and I had to catch my flight."

"You mean the flight on your private airplane? You're evading my question, they need a reason to issue those charges."

The businesswoman sighed. "Sex tourism," she confessed.

Jinora looked up, at first a look of disbelief in her eyes, looking at Asami. She then looked over to Korra, and her expression turned to one of realization. "Ho-ly shit. You turned tricks?"

Korra nodded. "I did."

"With Asami?"

"Can we move this along?" Asami asked, feeling a blush rise through her cheeks. "Am I in trouble for this or not?"

"Depends," was Jinora's simple answer. "How old are you?" she asked Korra.

"26."

The legal expert nodded. "There you go, nothing to worry about. The United Republic only makes a fuss out of it when you go to less-than-savory places for child prostitutes. They typically don't get brought back home though, but you have nothing to worry about. What about the obstruction charge?"

"I told a detective to fuck off because he didn't have an arrest warrant."

Jinora nodded again, a content smile growing on her face. "Good, means that someone is just blowing a lot of smoke. Trying to get a conviction out of those charges would be difficult, even if they caught you red-handed on all of them. Now," she said, snapping her fingers and pointed at Korra, "you need a green card."

"A what now?"

"A green card, allows you to stay here while you don't have a passport yet. The easiest way to convince them that you need it is to tell them that you are escaping sexual labor. Telling the truth is always best."

Korra was kind of surprised. "Is that really going to work?"

Jinora leaned back in her chair, confidence radiating from her smile. "You're a good looking young woman willing to leave her life behind and start a new one here, it's not a stretch. Apply for the card and tell them poverty forced you into prostitution, that'll gather you some sympathy points."

Asami smiled, because the whole thing was coming together nicely. If Korra actually got her green card, it meant she could apply for a passport after that, making the whole thing a lot harder for Unalaq. "What about the case?"

"Ah, yes, the case." Jinora thumbed through the massive pile of papers on her desk. "I've been making progress, but I really need someone to bounce ideas off of."

"I'm all ears," Asami offered.

The legal expert smiled. "Good, can we do this after I've sorted out this whole mess?" she asked, gesturing around her desk. "I don't think you'd like to be plowing through a ton of paper."

"I already have my own ton to plow through, so that sounds like a plan. See you later in my office?"

"Sure."

Asami and Korra both stood up, and there came a very audible sigh from Jinora as she checked her phone. "28 unread emails... You just _love_ making life difficult for me, don't you?"

"At least you're getting paid for it." When the legal expert gave her an 'are you kidding me'-look, Asami decided it would probably be best (and safest) to make herself scarce. "Bye," she quickly waved, before making her way to the elevator again.

"Do you really think she can do it?" Korra asked, a hint of worry in her voice.

The businesswoman nodded. "Absolutely. If anyone can, it's Jinora. She's the best in the business and I trust her. That's a good combination."

"It is," the ex-callgirl agreed. "Alright, I guess I'll trust your judgment."

Asami nodded. "Listen, Korra, I have a lot of work to do. Why don't you go down to City Hall, and get that whole green card-thing worked out. I'll keep you updated on what progress we made later."

Korra smiled. "Okay, sounds good." She briefly paused, looking straight into Asami's eyes. "Thank you. For... for everything."

The businesswoman smiled back. "You're welcome, Korra." Her smile turned into a smirk. "Now we better get moving. Lots to be done." The ex-callgirl's smile grew, and she made for the door, while Asami was _totally not_ looking at her ass.

_Damn._

* * *

_There we go, and they are in Republic City, hope you like what I've done with the place. I know Asami's car park is a bit excessive, but then again, she has a lot of money, and I wanted to use them to demonstrate her style. To save you the calculations, the cars I mentioned here would combine to about three million dollars’ worth._

_Anyway, as always, I'm sorry for the long wait, but I hope it was worth it. Good news is that I've already started work on the next chapter, there will be a short timeskip, possibly even smut (?). No promises on that one though, but I like to keep my options open._

_One of you has sent me a review I'd like to expand on a little bit: the value of a yuan on this story. I am aware that the yuan is a real life currency used in China, but that's not the same as the one used here. This one has broadly the same value as a US dollar for convenience, both mine and yours, (no, it's not laziness, my day-to-day currency is the euro) as the dollar is what values and exchange rates are typically expressed in. I only called it the yuan because that's the currency used in the United Republic in the show._

_Anyway, that's all for now people, take care._


	10. Night Life

**2 two weeks later, Friday, 10 am**

* * *

Asami felt like a zombie, taking a sip from her third coffee this morning. With this much caffeine in her system, she should be buzzing, but the opposite was true. She was tired, and no matter how hard she had tried that morning, just hadn't felt like she got it quite right.

Of course, she didn't really have any ugly clothes, at least, not ones that she would ever wear out in public. Instead, she had gone for an elaborate black top and a burgundy skirt, which kind of matched, but her fashion sense just hadn't been firing on all cylinders these past few days.

Not a surprise, really, given how busy she had been. She had to devote some of her work time to the case of Korra's parents, otherwise she might arouse suspicion of spending a disproportionate amount of time with Jinora outside of work. Add to that the fact that Opal was chewing her ears off over the wedding every free moment that she wasn't busy, that didn't really help.

On top of all that, she still had a company to run, which was more than a 9 to 5 job to begin with, so bottom line, Asami was tired.

She was so goddamn tired, it felt like once everything would settle down, she wouldn't go for a nice long weekend of tinkering on her Aston Martin, she would probably spend it in bed, alternating between sleeping in and marathoning Orange is the New Black.

" _Miss Sato_ ," Nikita's voice came over the intercom, louder than usual. It was enough to shake Asami out of her daydream of a relaxing weekend.

"Yes?"

"Are you alright? I've been buzzing you."

Asami shook her head. "Sorry, I was a little distracted. What is it?"

"Miss Amarok is here to see you."

A slight smile appeared on her face. "Good, send her through."

Seeing Korra walk through the double doors of her office was something Asami always enjoyed. It had a way of making an air of tranquility walk in here, even if the purpose of her being here was to stir things up back in the Southern Water Tribe. The businesswoman had noticed how Korra had started dressing differently. It always used to be very skimpy, using the absolute minimal amount of fabric to be considered clothed, but now though, she was starting to dress a little more conservatively. The ex-callgirl was wearing a simple grey bermuda and a loose blue tank top over it, since she wasn't so keen on wearing the hip-hugging hotpants or skintight crop-tops anymore.

"Hey there," she greeted, taking a seat opposite of Asami, but her grin turned around when she saw the state the businesswoman was in. "Are you okay? You don't look so hot, and that's saying something in your case."

Asami gave her a weary smile. "Yeah... I mean, I'm just really tired from being so busy. It'll blow over eventually. But what brings you by so early, for your sake at least?"

Korra chuckled. "Well, yes, I cut my morning work-out short. I got a message, and I wanted to tell you in person: my asylum application went through. First step to becoming a United Republic citizen."

It had her surprised that it went so quickly. These things could take years sometimes. Perhaps the name 'Amarok' wasn't entirely worthless after all. "Congratulations, Korra. This is good news."

"Definitely. Anyway, I wanted to ask you if..." She didn't to finish her sentence, as Loban barged into the office un announced.

"Sir, you can't just storm through here!" Nikita still tried to stop him.

"Loban, what is this?" Asami demanded. "I have company."

He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Miss Sato, but this takes precedence. I just got a call from Greenpeace that they have the oil rig occupied, and that they want us to stop the drilling."

Asami perked up. "What do you mean?"

Loban sighed. "Two dozen or so people forced their way onto the docks, knocked out one guard to gain access to the rig, and chained themselves to it. They won't let go unless we make promises about not towing the rig across the Mo Ce Sea."

The businesswoman sat back in her chair, and started kneading her stress ball.

- _If you can handle this quietly and quickly, you'll have back the full control over your board, not to mention that Loban will owe you again._

_Worth the risk._

"Knocked him out?"

He looked at the paper in his hand. "Cold. He was working the graveyard shift, he woke up a few hours later with a concussion and one hell of a bump."

"And you said they forced their way onto the grounds? How?"

"Cut a hole in the fence."

Asami smiled, knowing that this was going to be a walk in the park. "Call the Greenpeace hippie back, tell them to send someone down there who knows what they're talking about. These people who chained themselves to the rig are a bunch of boyscouts."

Loban looked confused at Asami's smile. "Uhh, she's already there. Nari Morasha, branch manager for Republic City, she wants the press there, as much as she can convince this is an important issue."

"Perfect. Tell her to wait for me in the parking lot, I'll be there in five minutes."

The confusion on his face only grew. "Miss Sato, even with your utter disregard for speed limits, it's going to take at least 10 minutes, if there wasn't any traffic. It's the middle of the day, it's busy."

Asami smiled. "I know, it's going to take me at least 20 minutes. But she doesn't know that." She turned to Korra. "I'm very sorry, but I have to deal with this first. It's probably not gonna take long, so I should be back here within the hour. Can you hold out here for that long?"

The ex-callgirl looked just as confused as Loban. "Uhh, sure?"

"Good, I'll see you later." Asami made her way to the hall, but before she left, turned around one more time. "I got this, Loban." She quickly winked, and finally made her way down to her Ferrari.

The freeway Asami took was clear enough to give it a few bursts of speed, and when she finally arrived at the yard where the oil rig was being constructed, the businesswoman pushed a button to open up a set of butterfly valves in the exhaust system, making the F12 extra loud.

The scene at the docks was precisely what Asami was hoping for: a bunch of workers who couldn't work, police to keep them in line, and lots of press around a woman who looked very pissed.

To emphasize her arrival, the businesswoman parked right in front of her, revving the V12 one more time to draw everyone's attention to them. "Miss Morasha," Asami opened, holding out her hand, which the protestor didn't shake.

"You're late. I have been waiting her for fifteen minutes."

"You've kept 200 of my employees from their work for three hours, I think it's a fair trade. Now, I'd first like to visit the guard your people assaulted." The cameras were there and they were recording everything. With large paces, Asami and Morasha made their way over to the ambulance, followed by the press.

With her best impression of a caring mother, she asked how he was doing, and assured him that he could take some time off. She'd square everything over with his boss. Once she had made sure every camera there had got some good footage, Asami made for the gate, Morasha in tow. "Would you be so kind to let us in?"

The policeman took a good, long look at them. "No one in or out until this is resolved. You might want to harm those protestors."

"You mean to tell me that I'm not allowed to enter my own property?"

He looked puzzled at first, but then the light went on. "Asami Sato?"

"That would be me."

He doubted, but ultimately did step aside. "My apologies, Miss Sato."

Asami and walked onto the yard, making their way to a skywalk to cross the dry-dock. In it, Asami was pleased to see the oil rig nearly complete. It consisted of a platform, four pillars, and two massive pontoons to keep it afloat. "84.000 tons of steel," the businesswoman said. "One of the largest oil rigs in the world. When we get it into place, it'll supply the Fire Nation with 300.000 barrels of oil every day." She took a closer look, seeing a load of people who had chained themselves to one of the pillars, using PVC pipes to shield their arms and the chains connecting them. There was a banner strung up on it, and it said: "Stop drilling now!"

"That's if we let you get it into place," Morasha said bitterly.

Asami smiled. "Yes, that's what you like to think. Tell me, how did you get here?"

She looked confused. "By car, why?"

"So the same way I got here."

She snorted. "We did not get here in the same way. I don't drive a mad sportscar that does five kilometers to a liter of fuel."

"Actually, it'll do one kilometer to a liter if I cane it," Asami smirked, but Morasha wasn't the least bit amused.

"Can we stop faffing about and get to the point? You want to drill for oil in a very important part of nature, and could badly damage the ecosystem."

The businesswoman dropped into a more defensive stance. "The place we've selected for drilling was actually appointed to us by the Fire Nation's Ministries of Environment and Economic Affairs together. We've made sure to avoid the shallows where there are many more fragile ecosystems," she rattled off on auto-pilot. It was a pre-made speech she had memorized in case questions like these popped up at press conferences, which they always did.

"You don't take me very seriously, do you?"

"No, I don't. I think you're a hypocrite. If you truly cared about oil drilling, you'd have come by bike, used aquarelle paint on your banner and not acrylic, and something other than PVC to tie up your lackeys. All possible because of oil. What's more, this rig cost 5.5 billion yuans, and yet it's profitable because of people like you."

"And more so because of people like you, with your fancy sportscars. We don't need any more oil rigs, we need to be more conservative with the resources we have now."

Asami sighed. "Look, we can go back and forth on ideals all day long, but the fact is, your protest is going to end and we're going to drill for oil with this rig anyway, so you might as well save us some time and tell those people to unhook themselves now."

"Not until you've given in to our demands."

"Right, so now you expect me to scrap a 5.5 billion yuan rig that took nearly three years to complete so that you can make your organization look good." Asami paused for a moment, during which a small smile grew on her face. "Fortunately for me, you have given me all the leverage I need to totally ignore you. First of all, your people aren't allowed to protest here."

Morasha raised an eyebrow. "We're allowed to protest, it's a constitutional right."

"True, but not on private property, which is trespassing. And given that they forced their entry, all of them would face at least half a decade in prison. Then there is destruction of property with the fence you cut through, and last but not least, assault of one of my employees." Asami moved very close to her. "You think you're taking on me, and that I made it easy for you by coming here in my big fancy sportscar, but you're not. By knocking him out, you're taking on a father of three young children who makes 35.000 a year, and has to work the graveyard shift for that. That's an opponent who can easily gather a lot more sympathy than me. On top of that, with the list of charges I just mentioned, you're in for one _expensive_ lawsuit. Right now, you've given me everything I need to _bury_ your organization under a mountain of damages and reimbursements."

At this, Morasha fell silent for a bit. She backed away from Asami, knowing that the businesswoman had a point, and a stronger position than she had. "You can't win all of those cases," she hesitantly said.

"Watch me. On top of that, the 500.000 yuans we pledged to you was meant as a sign of good faith, which you just threw back in our face. We can still requisition the money we already donated, and of course, the rest of the money is out of the question now." Asami paused, loving the look of defeat on her adversary's face. "However, I'm not a vindictive person, so I'll cut you a deal: you end the protest right now, pay a small damage fee to the guard you assaulted, you keep the money we already pledged, we stop the other 350.000, and we all go home happy."

"You mean you go home happy and I go home with my tail between my legs."

"Well, it's either that or face millions of yuans of damages. As an added bonus, I won't publically deride you." Asami paused for a moment, while Morasha was thinking it over. "Make your choice, but make it quick. If your people aren't gone within the hour, we take it to trial."

With this, Asami turned around and walked off, leaving an amazed protestor in her wake.

"Hold up!"

The businesswoman turned around, seeing Morasha behind them. "I'll end the protest. You win."

Asami smiled. "Good, then hopefully we'll never have to see each other again." She continued walking towards the exit and the 200 angry men waiting at the gate. "Gentlemen," she started, but it was drowned out by their yelling. With a sigh, Asami realized she had to use a skill that was so un-ladylike that she kind of hated having it. She stuck her thumb and index finger in her mouth, whistling loud enough to silence everyone there. "Gentlemen, thank you for your patience. I've had a productive conversation with the leader of this demonstration, and she has agreed to end the protest on certain terms. You'll be able to resume your work within the hour." An appreciative murmur went through the crowd, and it made the businesswoman smile.

_You have this one in the bag._

She made her way back to the Ferrari, ignoring all questions from the media, and it wasn't until she was back in the safety of the car that Asami allowed herself to laugh out loud. This whole thing was probably going to solve itself from here on out. Not to mention, it definitely made her feel good about herself, and even a touch less tired.

She made her way back to the Future Industries tower, and found Korra on her couch, watching the news. Much to her surprise, it was footage of Morasha explaining their earlier discussion. "You enjoyed the show?"

The ex-callgirl chuckled and muted the television. "Yeah, though I get a feeling I missed some of it. What happened after you disappeared from the cameras?"

Asami chuckled. "Threatened with lawsuits that would virtually render them bankrupt and would probably get her people thrown in jail, but we're probably just going to settle this quietly. Better for everyone."

So... When you're doing business, are you always..." She hesitated, and it made Asami curious.

"Always what?"

"Always a bitch," Korra finished. "I mean, if that's what you threatened her with, that's pretty harsh."

Asami sighed. "Look, Korra, I'm a businesswoman. I have to be hard when doing business, especially when there are people involved who don't like to reason. She forced my hand, because I have to kill protests like these with force. There are 300.000 people depending on me to be hard enough to do that. If I start giving in to every hippie that has a problem with what I'm doing, all of those people will be out of a job by tomorrow."

It fell silent for a while between them, Korra mulling it over. "Asami?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you stressed?"

This caught the businesswoman off guard. "What do you mean with that?"

"Well, you've been very busy with my parents' case, your deal with Unalaq, Opal's wedding, and now this, so it seems like a reasonable question."

Asami thought for a moment, and realized that Korra was right. She had spent the last two weeks flying up and down the city trying to make all sorts of things happen, and she hadn't really had any downtime. "Yeah, I suppose I am a little bit. Part of the job, really."

"Hmm," Korra hummed, thoughtfully rubbing her chin. "You need to relax. Fortunately for you, I know a few good ways."

This had Asami surprised. "I thought you were going to leave that life behind you."

The ex-callgirl laughed. "Not talking about sex, though that is a good way to relax. I was simply thinking that tonight, we go out into town, have a few drinks, make out with strangers, and then go home again, fresh and relaxed for the coming time."

Asami thought about it, because the idea was kind of appealing. Well, most of it was, because the 'making out with strangers'-part most definitely _wasn't_. The problem was, saying that would mean admitting certain things that she didn't quite know whether or not she wanted to be out in the open. "I dunno, Korra, I more partial to taking an early night in and staying there for the rest of my weekend. I'm pretty tired."

Korra smiled. "Look, we won't make it too late, and when you're tired, you just snap your fingers and leave with a lovely lady on either arm."

"It's not the ladies who respond like that."

"You get the point."

Asami sighed, because Korra was right, and what's worse, there was no way she could really talk her way out of this without seeming like a bitch who ditches her friends. "Okay," she finally agreed. "I know a place we can go, should be a target-rich environment."

"Alright," Korra said, drumming her fingers on the table a few times. "How do we go about it?"

"Well, I have a few things to do today, so I'm not going to be free until later. Businessdinners and everything, the kind that makes me want to take the steak knives to my wrists." There was a morbid chuckle from Korra. "I know the feeling," she said.

"Anyway," Asami continued. "How about you and San take the car from the Estate, pick me up at my building around ten?"

"Sounds like a plan."

And that's roughly how it went. Asami spent most of her day as she predicted, bouncing from meeting to checking blueprints to more meetings and ultimately to a dinner for a deal that went nowhere. All of it made her more tired, but strangely enough, made her look forward to her night out with Korra as well.

There were a few texts back and forth, mostly from Korra trying to pry the information of where out of her. All Asami said though was that she'd best dress in easy clothes, preferably not too modest. Of course, that she wanted to enjoy that part of it herself as well was something she kept on the down low.

Picking her own outfit, was, as ever, the tricky bit. _Too little of the good stuff, and she won't even notice you. Too much, and you might scare her off._ She had ultimately settled for a red cocktail dress, relatively simple in its design, but elegant nonetheless. It had straps that went over the shoulders, and had a circular neckline that didn't cut too deep. However, there was a V-shaped notch that did, making it slightly more exciting than it would have otherwise been. Her shoes were simple black flats, can't go wrong with those.

The Rolls-Royce Ghost was waiting for her outside, and Asami couldn't help but feel a tad bit nervous. Normally if she went out to do this, she was on her own, had a whole host of bad pick-up lines prepared, and typically managed to snag some floozy within the hour.

However, when she stepped in, Korra was already sitting on the back seat. "Hi," she opened again, a hint of awkwardness shining through. "You look good. Hell, dare I say it, you look great."

Asami smiled, feeling a slight blush rise in her cheeks. "Thanks. You're looking very good yourself." It was true, Korra looked great. She was wearing a turtleneck crop-top, exposing more of her shoulders, but to follow Asami's advice to cover up the guns, she was wearing extra high jeans shorts, cut off high on her thighs. To finish it off, she was wearing black armbands around her forearms, leaving most of her ink exposed. "You look ready to party," the businesswoman smirked.

"Speaking of which," Korra started, "where are we going?"

"Well... I know a great place that I typically go to when I'm in need of a one-night stand."

The ex-callgirl raised a mischievous eyebrow. "You mean a dyke bar?"

"Kind of." Korra stayed silent, only looking at her with that raised eyebrow. "Pretty much," Asami tried, but it had no effect. "Fine, it is. It's called Swingers, and I know the owner. Originally, she wanted to call it either Lickers or The Hornless Bull, neither of which were approved by her backers."

Korra chuckled. "Shame, I think those two would have been perfect for drawing the right crowd inside."

Asami laughed too. "Yeah, I guess it would be, but people with money are always afraid of bad press." The rest of the relatively short drive there was filled with more meaningless conversation (Korra told the story of how she once was forced to go to a lesbian bar in Usuhaia named The Nimble Fingers to meet a client who wanted to be fingered in public, kind of appropriate,) until they arrived at the club.

This was Asami's cue to make a beeline for the bar, and order them both a drink. "So," Korra said. "To a relaxing night out?"

"I could do with some de-stressing," Asami chuckled, and they drank to that.

Slamming their glasses down on the bar, Korra took a look around. "So... Any potential targets?"

The businesswoman laughed again. "Nah, but give it some time. We've only been here for a few minutes."

"Fair enough, but know that patience isn't my strong suit."

Asami chuckled. "Yeah, I know."

- _Either you say it and she'll take you up on it or you don't and just feel guilty about it._

_I hate you._

"Don't let me hold you back," Asami said. "If you want to scope out the possibilities, be my guest. I'm just gonna get started with a wine."

Korra smiled. "Alright, I'll send some your way."

She kept her word, and Asami... didn't. She stuck to the bar, feeling more and more miserable as the night drew on. Drinking wine by herself was one thing, but then having to fend off the advances of women made it extra depressing. The reason was simple, she didn't want them, she wanted Korra.

At one point, she looked up to see the ex-callgirl making out in the middle of the dancefloor with some teenager who she hadn't been dancing with five minutes earlier. It took every ounce of her self-control not to walk out there and slap the teen in the face, so instead, Asami ordered another drink to try and calm herself down.

This was the pattern of the night, until the bartender decided it had been enough.

"Give me another."

Kya came over to her. "Are you sure you haven't had enough for now?"

"It's Friday night and I don't have to drive. I think I can do with another drink," Asami replied.

The bartender cautiously eyed her up. "All women in this bar are single, desparate, and horny, and yet you're sitting here alone, talking to the bartender. Now I have a pretty good idea why." Kya looked up, spotting Korra in the crowd, dancing with some other woman. "Girl with the tattoos. What is she to you?"

Asami followed Kya's gaze, feeling a pang of jealousy go through her as the ex-callgirl pressed a quick kiss on the woman's lips. "I have no idea."

"You went green with jealousy when she kissed someone, but when she got slapped in the face, you smiled. That makes me wonder: what do you want her to be?"

Every possible version of that question had been roaming through her head for the past two weeks, and it was also exactly the question she was afraid of right now. Really, that could be anything, ranging from a friend to a heater to keep her warm during the night.

Unfortunately, there was only one answer to that question.

_Mine._

"I want her. All of her." Because of the alcohol, the inhibitor between her brain and her mouth had gone, and it wasn't until she said it that she really realized _what_ she just said.

"That's what I thought."

_Mother. Fucker._

- _Now you've done it. Kya is going to make a fool out of you and you just handed her all the ammunition she'd ever need._

_Spare me the lectures, please._

"Kya, please don't embarrass me..." Asami groaned, but a smile had already appeared on the bartender's face.

"Of course I'm going to do that, what else am I for?"

With another groan, Asami let her head fall on her arm, resting on the bar. She could already feel the heat rise through her face, and from the corner of her eye, saw Kya walking towards the end of the bar closest to the dancefloor. The older woman called out something, and Korra came soon enough, walking over to Asami. "What's up?"

Kya smiled. "Apparently, Asami is a bit bummed that she isn't the one you're fooling around with. Here's what you're going to do: you're going to kiss, then I give you both a shot, and we'll see what happens from there. Deal?"

Both women on the other side of the bar were staring at Kya with their mouths hanging open, albeit for different reasons. Asami wanted to protest, but couldn't think up a solid defense that would both be sensible and not completely shatter every possibility for something to happen between them in the future.

Meanwhile, the bartender stoically continued, pouring two shots and placing them on the shelf behind her. "These are yours after I've seen you kiss. Your call." With that, she was off to help other patrons.

Asami stared after her, but it was Korra who shifted her gave from Kya to the businesswoman. She hesitated, but ultimately did speak up. "Is it true?"

_Damn._ Asami sighed, knowing that it was all or nothing now. "Yes. I want to be with you, but how, I have no fucking clue."

Korra covered both of Asami's hands with her own, and pressed a gentle kiss on them. "And you've been here all night, being miserable while you were watching me fuck around with everyone here?" She leaned in, letting her forehead rest against Asami's. "You know, you're by far the smartest person I've ever met, but that was really stupid."

- _She's right, you know._

Right now, Asami's heart was pounding in her throat. Their breaths mingled, and if their current position was to be any indication, Korra wasn't about to shy away from it unless the businesswoman was the one to pull back. Korra's hands went from Asami's hands to her shoulders, before slowly moving over from the fabric of her dress to the bare skin of her neck. She gave Asami every possibility to pull back, but she wasn't going to do that for the world.

Their noses brushed together, only adding to the anticipation. Asami didn't know if she should make the first move, or let Korra do it, because frankly, the tension building between them since the left Ushuaia had been almost unbearable, and now it was about to break. Ultimately, it was Asami who leaned in first, finally capturing Korra's lips with her own again, and _boy_ , was it glorious.

Even though they had kissed before in Ushuaia, and that was a pretty good kiss, it had _nothing_ on this. This one started out a little uncertain, like they were both getting a feel for the other, while earlier, Korra had been so assertive to make Asami feel at home that she just did what she knew. Now though, it marked the beginning of what they probably both knew to be their relationship, so it was kind of important to both of them not to let this devolve into pure lust and carnal desire.

Korra's hands slipped further up, cupping Asami's face, while she herself wrapped her arms around the ex-callgirl's neck, pulling them closer together. The businesswoman slightly parted her lips, as she not only wanted to feel Korra right now, she wanted to _taste_ her as well. She let her tongue trace over Korra's lips, who responded in kind, opening up her lips to let Asami have all the access she could ever want.

In truth, Asami didn't have any idea how much she needed this. It felt like every nerve ending was on fire, and with every fiber of her being, she wanted to press herself closer to the ex-callgirl. Never had she felt like this before, not this need in her life to be with someone, not just physically, but emotionally as well. She poured in every bit of lust, desire, love, and frustration that she had, all in service of making this a night they would both remember forever.

Reality had a way of being a buzzkill though, because soon, they were out of breath. Asami was the one to pull away first, panting from the strain, but a huge smile appearing on both of their faces. "Whoa..." Was the first thing the businesswoman uttered.

"You can say that again," Korra replied, equally out of breath.

It was at about that moment that Asami started noticing that they were drawing quite a few glaring people. It was kind of a faux pas in a club, not to make out in busy areas, but meh, it could have been worse. They had still kept it relatively PG, so what the heck?

Suddenly, a slow clapping came from behind the bar. "Now that's what I call a kiss," Kya smirked. She took the two small glasses from the shelf behind her, and placed them in front of the women. "Bottoms up, and then you should go and get yourself a room."

Asami chugged the shot before Korra could say anything, who simply raised an eyebrow. "Do you really think that's a good idea?" she asked.

"Who gives a fuck if it isn't?" the businesswoman replied. She took out her phone, quickly shooting San a text to get the car out front. "Come on," Asami said, taking Korra's hand. She dragged her through the crowd, loving the feeling of those tattooed fingers intertwine with her own. Before she really knew it, they were standing outside again, and the Ghost almost soundlessly pulled up in front of them. "Take us back to my place, San," she said.

San took a close look at them, their intertwined hands, and raised an eyebrow. "Very well, Miss Sato." He held the suicide door open for them, upon which they climbed into the back.

Korra was immediately on her again, resting her head in the crook of Asami's neck. "This feels really nice. Can't believe it took us two weeks to figure it out."

The businesswoman pressed a sweet kiss on Korra's hair in response. "Yeah. Guess I have been pretty stupid about it."

At this, the ex-callgirl looked up. "'Sami, you're not the only one to blame for this. If anything, I was even more dense about the whole thing than you were, given how I was acting around you. You know, dropping my clothes at virtually every turn."

Asami chuckled when she remembered it. "Well, I guess that's just what happens when you pay someone to come over."

"Something like that," Korra chuckled back. She leaned in, pressing a slow kiss on Asami's lips. "But I don't want that anymore. Back then, it was just business, now it's something I _want_."

Asami looked up, pushing the ex-callgirl away a little bit. "Korra..." she hesitantly begun, as she knew this was probably going to be a touchy conversation. "Have you ever... made love to someone?"

She looked dumbfounded. "What are you talking about? I was a hooker, that's what I did for a living for nearly ten years."

"That's not what I'm talking about." Asami sighed. "What I mean is, were you ever invested in it, that you actually wanted to be close to someone else?" She was whispering, as they were still in the car with someone else, even though Asami knew that San wouldn't spill the things he heard if he was being waterboarded.

Korra hesitated as well. "I..." she started, but didn't finish. It was pretty clear to Asami that she was thinking things over, but that answers weren't coming to her, at least, not the ones that she was hoping for. "No," she ultimately said. "I don't think I have."

Asami let it fall silent between them for a few moments, before a faint smile crept over her face. "How about I show you..." she whispered, pulling Korra very close to her, lips ghosting over hers. "Show you what it really feels like..." Asami leaned in the final little bit, pressing her own lips against Korra's again. The ex-callgirl completely surrendered herself to Asami, letting her take control of the kiss.

She ran her tongue past Korra's lips, who opened up, allowing her full access, and it was _amazing_. the businesswoman knew what was coming, and she was determined to make it memorable. She tasted like cheap alcohol and artificial flavoring, but it didn't matter. They both allowed themselves to get lost in the kiss, so much so that neither of them noticed they had arrived.

"Ahem," San coughed behind them as soon as they finally broke apart for a moment. Naturally, this made both of the women go bright red in embarrassment, even though he had probably seen the whole thing in his rear view mirror. Asami took a quick look around, and saw that they were in the parking garage underneath her building.

They got out of the car, a little indignantly, and Korra made for the elevator, pressing the button to call it as often as she could.

"Why don't you take tomorrow off?" Asami said to her driver, smiling at Korra's antics. "I don't think we'll be going anywhere."

San smiled. "Thank you," he said, a genuine smile on his face. "Good night, Miss Sato." He got back into the Ghost, and drove off into the night.

"As for you," Asami said, wrapping an arm around Korra's waist, softly pressing a kiss on her neck. "Well, I have plans for you," she seductively whispered into her ear. The ex-callgirl turned around in her arms, just as Asami saw the doors of the elevator open up. She pushed Korra inside, kissing her passionately as she did.

The ride up was over in the blink of an eye, or at least, it seemed that way. Making out with Korra was a brilliant way to make any amount of time seem shorter, and something as dull as an elevator ride would go by extra fast.

They emerged into a small hallway, where Asami quickly pushed Korra into her penthouse, already in the process of undressing. Asami had already kicked her flats off, and busied herself finding the nearest flat surface to push Korra onto. This turned out to be a sofa, where they fell down on, Asami on top. She once again pressed her lips against Korra's, desperate for contact with her.

Asami moved her lips down, working her way down to Korra's neck, getting the first moan of the evening from her. In spite of having had only two real relationships, she knew how to work her way around a woman, and kissing the neck was always a way to get results quickly.

She was surprised however, when Korra stopped her from tugging on the hem of her top. "Wait..." she breathed.

Asami did, wanting to know what made her say that.

"I want this," she said, looking straight into Asami's eyes. "I just don't want it to be a mindless fuck on the couch."

This made the businesswoman smile. "You're absolutely right," she said, and stood up. She pulled her hair free from its restraints, letting it flow freely over her shoulders, after which an appreciative smile appeared on Korra's lips as well. Asami pushed the straps of her dress down, letting the smooth fabric easily slide down her body, pooling around her feet.

_And for once, wearing matching lingerie isn't just vanity._

- _Not even I am going to oppose that._

The ex-callgirl seemed to freeze in place, and Asami used this moment to seductively walk towards her bedroom, putting a slight sway in her hips. "I was kind of hoping you'd join me," she smirked over her shoulder, and this snapped Korra out of it.

Next thing she knew, Korra had her spun around, and began fiercely kissing her. Asami gave in, not doubting for a second if that was the right thing to do. She felt Korra's hands slide down her back, and used this to hop up, wrapping her legs around Korra's strong, muscular waist.

It was no problem for the ex-callgirl to hold Asami like this, and she made her way to the bed, where she slowly eased the both of them down. Here, Asami did actually get the chance to raise Korra's top over her head, and the sight never failed to impress her. This was in no small part down to the fact that Korra hadn't been wearing a bra, and it left her exposed immediately, locked heart, flowerbed, nipple piercings and all. Even though this was by no means the first time Asami had seen Korra topless, this was the first time there wasn't an undertone of guilt stopping her from fully relishing in the beauty of the woman currently straddling her.

Korra leaned down again, capturing Asami's lips with her own while simultaneously working her hand behind Asami's back to unclip her bra. She did, making her feel free, and also made her a touch uncertain. That was the strangest part, as that hadn't happened to her in years. Asami knew she looked good, and getting her naked was something many people would pay a pretty penny for, which was exactly why she was so careful with it. Sure, there were the one-night stands, but those were non-committal anyway, so it didn't matter. This did.

Not that Korra seemed to care very much. She kissed her way down Asami's neck and onto her chest, leaving a trail of slightly red marks in her wake. There was definite sucking, meaning most of them would be clear as day by tomorrow. _High-closing top it is._

The ex-callgirl locked her lips around one of Asami's nipples, making her gasp, because it felt _good_. For a moment there, she was back in Ushuaia, right to the first time they were together. This snapped her out of it, because that's not the way she was planning this evening to go. "Korra... Wait," Asami breathed.

She did, putting some distance between them. "What's wrong?"

Catching her by surprise, the businesswoman flipped them over, pinning Korra's wrists lightly to the bed. "I want tonight to be about you," she whispered, and leaned down to kiss her again. The ex-callgirl gave in, letting Asami take the reins for now.

She took full advantage of Korra's willingness to give in, so she broke away from the kiss, and started working her way down Korra's neck. "Just relax," Asami whispered in between kisses, feeling her tense up a little bit. "Let someone take care of you, for a change..." She moved over to the left, starting to suck on Korra's nipple, just like she had done a few moments earlier. However, Korra was much more fun to play with, because of the piercings which Asami took in her teeth, tugging on them a little.

This already made her gently moan, and it made Asami's spirits rise. She let her other hand slide up Korra's side, moving it to take a breast in her other. Using her thumb to stimulate the other nipple, Asami moved her kisses to the center of the ex-callgirl's chest, deciding to have some fun by sucking very hard on the skin there. True, the tattoo would hide the hickey somewhat, but it was the idea that mattered most to Asami.

Meanwhile, she slipped her free hand down Korra's belly, felt the navel piercing on her way down there, and ultimately let her hand come to rest on the hem of her pants. The businesswoman looked up from sucking on her chest, seeking Korra's eyes. It came back as an approving smile, which prompted Asami to slide down entirely. She sucked more hickeys on her abs, one on each muscle, making Korra laugh. "You just couldn't resist, could you?" she asked with a smile from ear to ear.

"What can I say, I'm a sucker for your abs, and this is how I prove that," Asami replied. She could feel how the ex-callgirl tensed up, and responded by letting her tongue run up Korra's belly, feeling the definition of her abs. "Feels good..." She undid the button of her pants, and Korra helped her by shaking her hips to wiggle the pants down. Of course, she took her panties down with this as well, leaving her bare again.

Asami ran her fingers lightly through her soft folds, already feeling them become wet pretty quickly. "Looks like someone's eager," she teased.

"Fuck, Asami..." Korra breathed. "Can you do it already?"

The businesswoman smiled again, knowing this was her chance. She leaned down, pressing a very light peck on the piercing through Korra's hood, before leaning back up again immediately. "Do what?" she smirked.

"Come on..." the ex-callgirl moaned, but it only made Asami's smile wider.

She leaned down again, very lightly teasing Korra. "You're gonna have to say it..."

- _God, you're evil._

_I know, I know._

"Fuck me..." she eventually said. "Fuck me, eat me out, put you entire goddamn hand in me if you have to, just do everything you can to me..."

This was all that Asami could ask for; Korra _needed_ her. She dove in, eagerly pleasing the ex-callgirl. She started with the tried and true way, sucking on her clit, getting another loud moan out of her.

The businesswoman felt Korra's fingers comb through her hair, and they pushed her harder into her core. It was this feeling that proved it to Asami that this was actually real.

Of course, she didn't really know what she had been expecting, but it had to be said that Korra tasted great. It was surprisingly neutral, but instead of being bland, it had a slightly salty edge to it, and this was enough to make Asami want more. Much, much more. She stuck out her tongue, gently lapping it over the ex-callgirl's core, making her moan loudly in the process.

The businesswoman knew it probably wouldn't be too hard to push Korra over the edge right now. After all, it had been a while since she had sex, something she wasn't used to. And yet... Somehow, Asami felt like she wanted to stretch it out, build her up higher to make her crash down harder. That would be a true achievement, and an ambitious goal to achieve.

Fortunately, Asami was an ambitious woman, so that goal seemed like a perfectly good one. After continuing to eat Korra out for a bit, her moans grew louder and more frequent, her hips occasionally bucked, and her hands had let go of Asami's hair in favor of grasping at the sheets. This was the perfect moment to stop. "This is working very well," Asami said with a smirk, resting her chin on Korra's core. That this meant she was kind of staring down the barrels of two guns was something she tried to ignore, because it was a little bit funny.

The ex-callgirl looked down. "What... Why did you... stop?" she panted, clearly out of breath.

"Because the buildup is half the fun," she smirked, throwing Korra's words right back at her.

"Only if you have something to make up for it," Korra smirked back, and hooked her hands under Asami's arms. She pulled her all the way back up, catching Asami's lips again. The businesswoman knew she was covered nose to chin in Korra's juices, but Korra either enjoyed it or didn't care, because it was their most passionate kiss of the night, and that was saying something.

Asami wanted to slide back down again, but Korra stopped her. "Wait..."

"What is it?"

"Don't go." She hesitated for a moment. "I want to know it's you... Does that make any sense?"

Asami smiled. "I think I know what you mean." Instead of going down on her again, she slid her hand over Korra's abs and down into her soaking wet folds. Her fingers met the familiar piercing again, telling her she was on the right path. She rubbed her fingers through Korra's lower lips a few times, making sure they were lubricated enough to slip them in painlessly. Two would do for now, and the way Korra angled her head back in response told her it was enough.

The businesswoman slipped her free hand around the back of Korra's head, pulling her in for another kiss. Because she was lying on top of the ex-callgirl, there wasn't a lot of movement to be had from her hand, so instead, she pushed her still lace-clad core up against her wrist and pushed forward, making Korra angle her head back in spite of their kiss. Her breathing was ragged and shallow, and even though her moans had quieted down, Asami knew that was only because they had gone silent. She was close.

She sped up the thrusts from her hips, hooking her fingers over, and smiled when she saw the ex-callgirl grasp at the sheets. "Korra..." She whispered as a devious plan formed in her head. "Use my back."

Korra didn't need to be told this twice, and immediately wrapped her arms around Asami. The businesswoman continued to thrust, feeling the slightly painful but oddly satisfying sensation of Korra's nails scraping across her back. _Looks like bikinis are out of the question as well for the coming week._ Still, seeing the ecstasy on Korra's face was well worth it.

"Fuck... Asami..." she panted. "So damn close..."

This was Asami's cue. She hooked her fingers up again, and this was what pushed Korra over the edge. A scream ripped through the bedroom, and Korra arched her back, lifting Asami as well. She threw her arms out again, ignoring Asami's previous request, and gripped the sheets again, trying to cope with the orgasm as it raced over her body.

Asami drew her fingers back, pulling Korra in for a fierce kiss as soon as she had settled back down again.

"Fucking hell..." the ex-callgirl breathed. "That..."

"That's what happens when you want it," Asami smirked. She rolled off Korra, taking a moment to catch her breath herself. She was by no means in bad shape, but still. Sex is excellent exercise, and that was proven right here.

After a few minutes, Korra propped her head up on one arm, and traced her fingers in lazy circles around Asami's nipple. "Thank you," she quietly said.

"For making you come like a howler monkey?" Asami smirked.

"For showing me what it should be like." For once, Korra was the one striking a serious tone. Asami's smirk as well turned from playful to sincere, and she leaned up to press a kiss on the ex-callgirl's lips, a kiss that soon became more passionate.

When they split again, Korra's grin did turn playful. "Now... I do believe it's my turn to play..." She positioned herself over Asami, leaning on arms, their faces only a few inches apart. "The night is still young."

Asami smiled as she felt Korra's lips on her neck. _Yes it is._

* * *

_Well, there you have it. I'm sorry about the long wait, and the fact that you're still reading this right now proves that you are nothing if not patient. Yay for you._

_In all seriousness though, I'm not really surprised it took me this long, mostly because of the smutscene at the end. I started writing the first chapter more than three months before I finally published it, so... yeah, I kind of expected this. Also, it made me realize that for a story called_ The Callgirl _, it has surprisingly little smut in it. Lastly, in my defense, this is the longest chapter I've written outside of The Avatar's Mistress, so there is that._

_Well guys, I hope you enjoyed it, because I have no idea when the next part is coming. Take care!_


	11. Discontinued

_Hello everyone, and I'm sorry to let you down so soon, this is not really a new chapter. There is something like that further, but I do have something more important to tell you: I am officially discontiuing The Callgirl. The reason for this isn't time, or that I have left the fandom or anything, it really is this story specifically._

_See, here's the thing (or rather things): I have two major problems with this story, and the more I thought about how the story would play out from where I last left it, the more glaring those two problems became, to the point that I kind of lost interest in this story and switched to writing one-shots, She's a Pirate, the What Happens In Vegas story, etc. Those problems are as follows:_

_1\. Korra is a mostly passive player in a story where she is the titular character. For me, this doesn't work, because the one thing Korra has never been in the show is passive. Nothing happens to her, she makes stuff happen, and the fact that it's precisely the other way around here is problematic to me. And this is also by design, I can't really write the story differently so that that isn't so much of a problem anymore. Asami is the active character here, and hell, Jinora almost has more agency when it comes to actually doing stuff. Now, this could be forgiven, since Asami is ultimately the main character and POV character, if it weren't for..._

_2\. Most of the 'juicy' stuff that happens to them (Korra's armbands, Asami's problems with her father, the beginning of her friendship with Opal, etc.) all happened in the past. There's no tension there. I can write you a sad story like I did when Korra told the story of how she ended up as a prostitute to begin with, but for me, that's not very interesting, particularly because of reason 1. Again, this is a systematic problem, I can't see ways to rewrite the story in which this problem doesn't exist. Everything that was going to happen like getting Korra's parents out of jail would play out in boring AF lawsuits, and that's not interesting to either read or write. The only interesting thing on the horizon that I conceivably had was Opal's wedding, and even then, I don't think that would be very interesting._

_Now, since this is all doom and gloom, and since you've all been good boys and girls, I am going to leave you with three manuscripts of what I had. The first is the morning directly after the end of the last chapter, which I just think is pretty funny, the second one is a bit more of Asami's history and the return of a character I like, and the last is one that a lot of people have been waiting for, namely the story behind Korra's armbands. It's not really pretty, so consider yourself warned._

* * *

**Saturday morning**

* * *

_Fuck, that's glorious._

Asami's first thought in the morning typically wasn't curse-fueled, but it seemed appropriate, given the context of last night.

The first thing she noticed was a slight headache, probably a leftover from the drinking she did last night. It had been nothing too excessive, but it was definitely there. The second thing she noticed was a slight burning in pretty much all of her muscles, which was most certainly a leftover from what she did with Korra last night. The third and most important thing was feeling Korra's arm wrapped around her waist.

They were only under a single sheet, and it wasn't even really necessary to have, but nice anyway, now that the air conditioning had kicked in. Asami gazed down, seeing that Korra was under the same sheet, which explained the skin-on-skin contact she could feel with the strong, tattooed arm resting on her waist.

Unable to resist herself, Asami rolled over, and the sight brought a smile to her face.

Korra was still asleep, and she was an absolutely adorable mess. Her short hair was sticking every which way, while her mouth was open at a slight angle, with a small puddle of drool collecting on her pillow underneath. She knew she should be slightly put off by that, but to Asami, it seemed cute above all else. How could she be so poised in during the day, yet at night, be such a mess?

The businesswoman glanced down, looking at the arm, wrapped in its ever-present armband. It was starting to bother her a little bit, but again, given the circumstances, she couldn't quite bring herself to care.

In spite of just waking up, she still felt a little tired though. Could be because of the rigorous amount of 'exercise' from last night, maybe the hangover, or maybe busy the week before, but Asami felt it was just easiest to close her eyes again, letting sleep take her back to the land of dreams.

- _Probably dreams filled with a particular Water Tribe woman._

_So what? That same woman is naked in my bed by her own free will, why wouldn't she be in my dreams as well?_

Before her voice of reason could think up a clever response, she was gone.

How much later it was when Asami woke up again, she couldn't tell, only that Korra was awake now. She had her head propped up on one arm and she was watching her sleep. What she also felt was that the sheet had migrated down, barely reaching above her belly button, but Asami couldn't find it in herself to care. Heck, Korra had seen plenty last night, making it enjoyable for the both of them. "That doesn't look creepy at all," she smirked.

The ex-callgirl chuckled. "Sorry. It's just... you looked so peaceful, and I couldn't help but enjoy the view a little."

Asami closed her eyes as she smiled. "Nope... still can't decide between sweet and creepy." She felt something move, but by the time she had opened her eyes again, Korra was back to straddling her, and moving down to kiss her neck. "Hmm... Korra... You want round two already?"

"What, should I wait for a written invitation?" she smirked.

The businesswoman chuckled. "No, but I think we should take care of ourselves first."

Korra got off her with a groan. "Fine... what'd you have in mind?"

"There are a couple of bottles of water in the fridge in the kitchen." Asami put up her biggest, cutest puppydog eyes. "Please? You'll get more cuddles and kisses when you get back."

"Alright," she said, and got out of the bed. "By the way, that look is totally cheating, you know that, right?" she chuckled.

"Of course, that's why I use it," Asami smirked back. "There's a robe in the closet if you need it."

"When have I ever?" Korra looked over her shoulder, smirking as she felt Asami's gaze following her around the room. It was true, she was enjoying the way Raava's effigy moved across the muscled back, even though there were a few scratches on it.

_Oops._

- _Meh, she did the same to you._

_Only because I told her to._

Asami fell back onto her pillow, a stubborn smile forming as she thought back on last night. They had been at it for some considerable time after the first run, so yes, there would probably be a large helping of hickeys on her neck and chest. She should care, maybe check them out in the mirror, but just couldn't bring herself to do either one. It was too good to care.

It would have been a perfectly peaceful moment, were it not for the loud bellow coming from outside her bedroom. "OH MY GOD!"

 _This can't be happening._  Asami's eyes shot open, because this wasn't the way she was hoping it would go. That was definitely Opal's voice, and judging by how loud it was, she just ran into a butt-naked Korra digging through her fridge.

"Who the fuck are you?!" Opal yelled.

"Who the fuck are  _you_?!" Korra simply yelled back, because that seemed like the obvious question to ask.

Asami quickly got out of bed, slipped into her robe, and tried to calm the whole situation down. "People, people, let's just take a deep breath. It's early in the morning and we're still a little tired."

"Asami, why is there a naked woman in your kitchen?" Opal asked, shielding her eyes so she wouldn't have to look at Korra, who was still dumbly standing there with two bottles of water in her hands. She then took a closer look Asami, seeing the hickeys on her neck and tell-tale sex hair. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me.  _With her_?!"

"Kind of," the businesswoman sheepishly said. "Korra, could you do everyone here a favor and put on some clothes?"

Korra doubted for a few more seconds, but then nodded. "Sure. You want these, or..." she said, waving the bottles around.

"I think you can leave them here."

"Right."

As Korra started walking, Opal turned, trying to avoid looking at her. "Asami, what the hell are you doing with her?" Opal asked as soon as the ex-callgirl was out of earshot.

"We're still figuring that out." Asami briefly paused. "Look, I've had a long night."

"I bet," Opal scoffed. "Are you seriously telling me that she was going to be your plus one at my wedding?"

"I was?" Korra popped up again, only this time dressed in her clothes from last night.

_Well, fuck, this is all just magnificent timing._

The businesswoman sighed. "Can I answer all of you one at a time? Yes, Korra, I was going to ask you to come to Opal's wedding with me. No, I didn't get around to it, and last night did change everything. We have a lot to discuss, and Opal, not to be a bitch, but but I do really think that is something we should do in private."

Even though it was sincere, Opal didn't seem pleased with that answer. "You still have to get your dress fitted, you've been putting that off for two weeks now. There isn't that much time left before my wedding, so I kind of want to get that done."

"I get that, but this is important to me." Asami smiled as she felt Korra's hand slip into her own. The sensation made her a little more sure that she was making the right choice here. "I just need some time to figure this out."

Again, Opal's scowl didn't spell good news, and for good reason. Asami had been stalling on getting her bridesmaid dress fitted, and even though she was reasonably sure it would fit well, there were always the finishing touches to worry about. It was one of many reasons Opal was practically pulling her hair out over the whole wedding since Asami got back from Ushuaia.

_So much for a peaceful few weeks leading up to a happy marriage._

- _Note to self: drinking yourself into oblivion and then getting married at a casino is definitely the less stressful option._

"Fine," Opal sighed. "As your friend, I will trust you, but if you screw me on this again, I will handcuff us together and drag you to that tailor myself."

Asami though for a moment before giving her best friend a nod. "Fair enough. Look, this afternoon should be doable for me. What do you say?"

"I'm probably gonna be spending my day in the shopping district anyway, so yeah, that's fine by me. I'll be waiting for your call." With this, Opal finally showed herself out again, leaving Korra and Asami alone again.

It stayed silent between them for a moment, before Korra broke out laughing. "Well, that was awkward."

"I'll say," the businesswoman agreed. "Don't hold it against her too much, she's been under a lot of stress recently."

Korra didn't really look impressed. "Still, it's quite rude to break into someone's..." She took a proper look around for the first time, seeing that it wasn't really an apartment anymore. It kind of stumped her, but not enough to throw her off-balance entirely. "Penthouse, I suppose."

"She didn't break in, I gave her a key ages ago. Anyway, that isn't what we have to talk about." Asami took a sip from the bottle of water, because she was a little dehydrated, and let herself fall into a comfortable chair. Korra followed her example, sitting down on the couch beside it.

"So..." she opened. "What does this make us? You planning to ask me to the wedding, and of course last night..."

The businesswoman shrugged. "As far as I'm concerned, this makes us together. If you want it too, I think that's what we should do."

Korra thought for a moment, and it was a moment of agony for Asami. "Alright," she ultimately said. "It's gonna be a new experience for me anyway, I think you're the right person to try it with."

"You've never been in a relationship?"

"High school-romance that fizzled out in two weeks, so that doesn't really count. It's surprisingly difficult to find someone who wants a relationship with someone who trades sex for money." They both morbidly chuckled at this, and Korra was the one to continue it. "You really sure about this?"

"I am," Asami nodded, and she switched seats so that she was sitting next to her now-girlfriend. This really was the time to link hands and lean in to press a slow kiss on her lips. "One condition though."

Korra seemed a little worried. "What's that?"

"I want our relationship to be about us, not just amazing sex. So I say no sex until we've been on five dates."

The ex-callgirl chuckled. "Oh, that's cold. You do realize that's the part I'm good at, right?"

Asami laughed as well. "Yes, I do, but that's exactly why. I want to get to know the real you, not just measure how good you are in bed, which I already know you are good at."

She sighed. "Yeah, I guess that's fair enough. Still, you get my disappointment."

"I do," the businesswoman admitted. "But trust me, it's better this way. Anyway, I think it's best I go take a shower now. If I don't get a move on, Opal might actually make me dead."

Korra chuckled. "Alright, go. I can entertain myself for a bit."

Asami moved to the shower, and it was only there that she saw what a mess she was. She hadn't properly removed her make-up before falling asleep, so what little remained was a smeary disaster. Her hair looked like she belonged in an '80s metal band, and even tough she was still wearing her robe, the little bit of skin exposed on her chest was littered with purple hickeys.

This only got worse when she slipped it off, even though it made her smile. If Asami thought Korra was good back in Ushuaia, she was  _amazing_  here. She was 100% in the moment, and enjoyed every second of it, which was made extra clear by the marks she left on the businesswoman. The fact that she'd have to go for something with a collar in the summer was... of secondary importance.

With her shower over, Asami quickly dressed herself in a light pink linen shirt, as it was promising to be warm, but she also needed to button it up all the way. Oh well.

* * *

**Nalia's return**

* * *

"'Sami? Are you in there?"

Asami was surprised to suddenly hear the intercom buzz. "Umm, sure, why?"

"I have to talk to you, picked up a stray at the Estate."

"Korra, I can't take care of a cat," she sighed.

"It's not a cat, it's an old friend of yours, look." Korra stepped aside to reveal Nalia, standing right there. "Holy shit..." Asami mumbled. "Alright, come on up, I'll buzz you through."

A few moments later, the two women stepped into Asami's penthouse. Korra looked great in her high-closing tank top and loose bermuda, showing off her muscular build, while Nalia... The businesswoman took a good look at her, and something was off. She was far skinnier than Asami remembered her to be, but her make-up was neat. Her clothes looked slightly too big, probably because of the weightloss, and it was far more modest than she wore when they last saw each other. First of all, her cleavage was covered, as were her arms and legs, even though it had been easily 30 degrees during the day. Didn't seem anything like the Nalia she knew from way back when.

- _Big flippin' surprise, that's over a decade ago, you were kids back then._

_So the dragon tattoo on her hand is meant to suggest her modesty?_

- _One mystery at a time._

"Nalia Kao, as I live and breathe," Asami smiled, pulling her in for a hug, before moving on to Korra, giving her a quick kiss on the lips.

She gave a vague smile. "It's been a while."

"Well, come in, would you like a drink?" They both agreed, so Asami set to work pouring them all something strong, before joining her girlfriend and her ex on the sofas. Korra felt a little protective, was Asami's best guess, as she instantly wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "When did you come back to Republic City?" the businesswoman asked. "Heard you've been exploring the world."

Nalia nodded. "I have, been to all the major cities that aren't too close to the poles, no offence," she nodded to the ex-callgirl, who just smiled. "None taken."

"We talked in the cab on our way over here, didn't know you moved out of the Sato Estate."

Asami nodded, but something about this situation was starting to feel off. "Well, both of my parents died there before I was old enough to drive, so it held a lot of bad memories for me. Selling it seemed wrong, though." She chuckled. "Too many good memories for that." Nalia chuckled too, meaning now was a good time to go on the offensive. "Your father didn't mention you stopping by." She awkwardly shrugged, so Asami knew she had a bite. "You didn't tell him."

"My dad and I haven't been on speaking terms in years. Chances are, even if he did know I was here, he wouldn't give a fuck."

"You mean you've spent the past five years partying all over the world and he cut you off, and now the trust fund has run out." Nalia stared at her, her expression somewhere among shock, rage, and fear.

"What... How did you..."

"Oh, save it. He lives less than a mile from the Estate, and you passed it on your way down here. The only reason you're here in clothes that don't fit is because you need a place to crash. You'd have to be pretty desperate to ask your ex from a decade ago." Asami stood up, walked over to her ex, and roughly took the hand with the dragon tattoo, pulling up the sleeve.

This revealed two things: the tattoo snaked all the way up her arm, but more pressingly, every vein had tracks on it. "Korra? You've seen more of these than I have."

The ex-callgirl walked over as well, taking a closer look, while Asami could easily hold Nalia in her grasp. "The one up here, that's from yesterday, tops. Judging by your pupils and the way you're sweating, you've already begun detoxing."

Nalia gave an angry shrug, ripping her arm free and standing up as well, taking a defensive pose. "So what? It's my body, I can do with it whatever the fuck I want. Now are you just going to play Dr. House all day long, or are you going to help me?"

It was almost funny, and Asami couldn't surpress a morbid chuckle. "'Help you'? You don't want help, all you want from me is a wad of cash so you can continue on your path to self-destruction. I'm not giving you one fucking penny."

"Are you still mad about how I dumped you? Is that it?!"

"Christ, Nalia, that was ages ago, we were just kids! We didn't even make it two months, I don't care about that anymore. Holding grudges is bad for business, but remembering what happened isn't. You lied to me back then, and you're lying to me now." Asami walked over to the intercom, pressing the buzzer for her security guard in the lobby. "Jax, get in here."

"You're just gonna throw me out?"

"No, that's what someone who doesn't care would do. Contrary to what you might think, I actually give a damn about people." Jax walked in, quietly taking in the scene before him. "You have one chance to tell him what you're on, or he's going to take you to a hospital, and let them find out."

If looks could kill, Nalia would have just commited triple homicide. "Fuck you," was all she said.

"Do it the hard way," Asami sighed. "Jax, take her to Republic General, and make sure she stays there. Put her in rehab, tell them I'll take care of any costs."

"Yes, Miss Sato," he dutifully replied, and took Nalia by the arm, pulling her towards the door.

Korra and Asami looked on as she was dragged away, only being able to offer minimal resistance to Asami's massive guard. "Some show in there," the ex-callgirl said after a while. "You knew exactly where to look, didn't you?"

The businesswoman chuckled. "Signs were all there. 30 degree weather and full body clothing? That's where the first red flag went up, not to mention that's nothing like her, at least, it wasn't."

Korra sat back down, taking a sip of her drink. "Still, you were extremely certain to accuse your childhood friend of something like that, so my best guess is, you have some experience with people who used. Am I wrong?"

Asami sighed, leaning back into the sofa. "No, though it's not what you're expecting." She took a deep breath in anticipation. "Korra, it was me. I used to be an addict."

* * *

**Wednesday night, 8 years earlier**

* * *

Asami felt like she was going to drown in work, it was hopeless. She had two papers due on Friday  _and_  her normal classes to attend to, and that's not even taking into account her need for sleep. A glance at the clock revealed that she was already skipping that one today: it was three in the morning. Neither paper was anywhere near done, so unfortunately, the only thing that could be done about it, was to burn through the night on her third coffee in the hour.

It was her own fault, really. Unlike every student ever, Asami wasn't one to postpone everything until five minutes before it's due, she had just chosen really tough subjects.

- _You'd be caught dead before you'd admit that you've bitten off more than you can chew, though._

_Yes I would be, so I am seeing this through._

- _Do note: given how you're currently going, 'being caught dead' isn't entirely unlikely._

With a sigh, Asami stood up from her laptop, determined to pour herself another cup of coffee before she fell asleep while working and ending up with another 200 pages of the letter 'F'. (That has happened before.)

* * *

**Thursday**

* * *

After a brisk two hour power-nap, Asami was feeling... like death. The caffeine had only been able to fight off the fatigue for so long, so when one of the two papers was done with its first draft, she resigned that nothing would be able to keep her from sleep. Unfortunately, she was unable to reach a bed, so therefore decided that her couch, which was about two meters closer to her desk than her bed, would do just fine.

Tragic miscalculation, really. Maybe if she had been Opal's size, she'd have fit on the two-and-a-half person couch (or third-wheel-seat, as Asami liked to call it), but she wasn't, and trying to fit all 1.75 meters of her on it had resulted in stabbing neck pain.

The only coffee left in the pot was the batch from last night that had gone stale, but it didn't matter anyway. A buzz came from her phone, which was a text from Opal: " _class starting now, if you still care_ "

"Motherfucker," Asami swore, realizing she had to choose now: either go to class like this, or try to make herself at least a tad presentable, because she wasn't exactly looking  _or smelling_  very pleasantly now. With a resigned sigh, she decided to brush her teeth and shower in deoderant, something she normally never thought was acceptable, and raced to her class.

The only seat that was still open on the aisle was next to Tahno, which made Asami feel even more like shit than she already was. Tahno had something of a crush on her, even though she had made it abundantly clear to him that he was A) not on the list of contenders, and B) part of the wrong half of the population. Still, the only other option was to move through the rows of people, getting in everyone's way and disturbing the lecture even more than she already had.  _Tahno's horrid flirting it is._

As soon as she sat down, this theory was proven to be frightningly accurate. "Morning," he whispered, leaning over. "Long night?"

"Shut it, I'm trying to listen," she curtly whispered back.

"If you were that interested, you'd have shown up on time," he chuckled back, which sent an already pissed-off Asami right to the very edge.

"Knock it off or I knock your lights out, understand?" This seemed to work, as he leaned back in his seat, keeping his mouth shut for the remainder of the lecture.

She had trouble focussing on what was being said, but managed to pull through okay. The economic side of her study was definitely not where her passion lay, but if she was ever going to run her father's business successfully, she'd have to take it and perform well.

"Give me a minute?" Tahno asked, right before Asami stood up, ready to nap through her lunch hour.

She sighed, letting her head hang. "Tahno, how many times, I'm not going out with you. And no, that's not because you  _have_  a dick, but mostly because you  _are_  a dick."

He laughed. "That's not what I was going to ask you. In fact, I have something to offer you."

Thie piqued her interest, even though it probably spelled bad news. It was no secret that he had connections with some of the more shady characters on campus. "And what would that be?" she asked, keeping her voice as neutral as possible.

"Judging by the way you look and smell, this has been your second all-nighter this week, am I wrong?"

"Opening with insults, it's such a mystery why you don't have a girlfriend."

"Just answer the question."

Asami sighed. "Third one this week. Got a ton of work that needs finishing."

He nodded in agreement, a slight smirk appearant on his face. "I know the feeling, and have something that might help you. I imagine caffeine just isn't doing the trick anymore, is it?"

She suspiciously eyed him up, having a good idea where this was going. "You're talking about drugs, aren't you?"

"Caffeine is a drug," he shrugged. "What I'm offering you is just a little more... potent."

Part of her wanted to tell him to fuck off, him and his cocaine. But the other part of her was very curious to see if it would actually work, even if it was just for a little while.

- _Bad idea._

_Probably, but those papers aren't going to write themselves, are they?_

- _No, but they're not going to be written at all with whatever crap this guy could be throwing in it, not to mention that it's poison._

Once again, her voice of reason had a solid point, but Asami was inherently attracted to it. The taboo of the whole thing was slightly exciting, and the prospect of actually being able to burn through the night without wasting most of the time she wanted to use for her papers on staying awake, it was an appealing prospect. "How would we do it?"

That disgusting smile on his face only spelled more trouble, but she wasn't about to be thrown off her rocker by it. "Meet me behind the Lord Zuko building, three PM. Bring 50 yuans cash." With that, he walked off, ready to enjoy his lunch.

Asami didn't really know what option to go with. First though, she was  _starving_ , as she hadn't had breakfast in her rush to get to class. She made her way down to the cafeteria, where, after providing herself with copious amounts of vaguely edible things, she went to sit down with Opal. "Hey," Asami tiredly greeted her. "Thanks for the heads up, I would have been late otherwise."

Opal eyed her up. "You're welcome, but I'm starting to regret it. How many hours of sleep are you on each night?"

"That bad, huh?"

"You look like death, and you're avoiding the question."

Asami sighed. "I dunno, maybe three or four? I'm very busy, sleep takes a back seat."

Opal shook her head, and took Asami's hand, who slightly flinched. It wasn't something she was very comfortable with, though for Opal, she could make an exception. "Asami, I'm worried about you. You've chosen incredibly time-consuming courses, and both at the same time. If you keep going like this, you're going to burn out."

"Look, I appreciate the concern, but everything will be better after tomorrow, when I've handed in my papers. I promise you, 20 hours of sleep this weekend."

At this, a slight smile appeared on Opal's face. "Okay, but you better make it happen."

Asami started eating, feeling bad about lying to her best friend like this. There was far more work to be done than just those two papers, and she'd have to spend a lot of time on that over the weekend as well, not to mention housekeeping things like doing laundry and the evergrowing pile of dishes in her sink.

It was about there that Tahno's offer came back to her. If he really was telling the truth, she might actually have some time to sleep on top of everything else she still had to do, because Opal had a point too. Trying to go on like this would probably end up being very bad for her in the long run.

The only downside was, it would mean trusting Tahno, the sleaziest, slimiest bastard on the RCU. It was something of a public secret that he was paying his way through college by dealing stimulating drugs to overworked and undercaffinated students.

- _On top of the fact that, you know, you'd have to snort cocaine, an addictive and illegal drug._

It was a cointoss, and both outcomes were undesirable. The only thing she'd have to discover was which one was the lesser of the two evils.

Later that night, Asami was sitting at her desk, glaring at her laptop. One of her papers was finished, at least, she'd deemed the first draft to be pretty good, and she was currently on the second one, and once again found herself on the losing end of her battle with sleep. She had done the deal with Tahno, and there was a small vial with cocaine sitting on the edge of her desk. Up until now, caffeine had worked pretty well in keeping her awake, but she was losing grip on her motivation.

The longer Asami stared at the blinking cursor signalling that she hadn't been typing in a while, the more that vial beckoned. Tahno had given her pretty clear instructions, use a credit card to create three lines on a smooth surface, and inhale one through a bank note every half hour.

- _Well, credit cards and bank notes are two things you definitely don't lack. Common sense however, I can make an argument you've lost that one completely._

She was very partial to  _not_  trying it, and finish her paper the old fashioned way, but that really wasn't going to happen. Not the way she was feeling now, anyway.

With a sigh, she took the vial, tapping it out over a silver tray, and used her favorite credit card (MasterCard Platinum, benefits of inheriting a fortune equal to the GDP of a small country) to divide the powder equally into three lines.

- _Last chance. And whatever you do, don't say I didn't warn you._

_Noted._

Again, sticking to Tahno's advice that higher denomination notes work better because of circulation or whatever, Asami fished a 100 yuan note out of her wallet, tightly rolling it up, and took a deep breath, finally deciding to go through with it.

As soon as she had snorted the line up, the effects were almost immediate. Suddenly, she felt like she could get everything done, not to mention that she wasn't the least bit tired anymore.

Asami decided to make hay while the sun shines, and she got back on her paper, fingers rapidly typing away, never missing a beat. She was a quick typer, but the speeds she was achieving now were incredible. Within no time at all, she was burning through books, internet-based data, and her own notes, combining it all in one comprehensive paper.

After about half an hour, the effects started to wear off, but neither paper was quite as good as she knew she could make them, so she snorted up the second line, feeling the rush come back over her. More writing, speedy typing, and the last line went up her nose twenty minutes later.

It had probably been one of the most productive evenings of Asami's life, given that she had finished both papers, and to a higher standard than she would have been capable otherwise. But for now, the work was done, the coke was wearing off, and her bed was calling her name, so sleep it was.

* * *

**Friday**

* * *

Waking up was difficult, more than she'd normally expect after what amounted to a pretty decent night worth of sleep. Asami's best estimate was about 6 hours, so she had already started catching up on the amount she had missed over the week.

"Did it help?" Tahno asked her after class, singling her out again.

"Well, it did the trick. Finished my work, so I guess I owe you a 'thank you'."

His sleazy smile returned. "You're welcome, and when you need another rush, you know where to find me."

Asami watched him walk off, and part of her wanted to go after him and get a headstart on that work immediately. Most of her knew that it was a bad idea though, so instead, she walked off to have lunch with Opal again.

* * *

**Back in the present**

* * *

"I assume you didn't leave it at that?" Korra asked when Asami had let it fall quiet for a while.

The businesswoman shook her head. "No. Two weeks later, I was in a broadly similar situation, and even though the circumstances were a bit less extreme, but my inhibitions were lower. After that, it went fast, to once a week, twice a week, to every day. Opal eventually found out, and she was furious. We basically had the same conversation I had with Nalia just now, with the same arguments. I was losing weight quickly, had no appetite, but because of my wealth, I could conceal it fairly well to the outside world. I could afford my addiction, which is why it was so destructive on me."

She took a deep breath. "This went on 'till a few weeks before the end of my second year. One time, I woke up in the middle of the night, coughing heavily. Now my lungs were pretty beaten up from all the cocaine I had been stuffing in there, so that happened sometimes, but never  _that_  violent. When I turned on the lights, I found out that I had coughed up massive amounts of blood." Asami chuckled. "That was my red flag. It was about then that I realized that Opal was right, and that if I would keep on doing it, I would end up killing myself. Checked into rehab later that week, and I stayed there the entire summer. Came out clean, haven't touched any drugs since."

* * *

**Korra's backstory of the Raava tattoo**

* * *

"Asami, stop. Just... stop." Korra sighed, and wrenched her hand free, taking a few paces to nowhere in particular. "I'm not brave, not like you think I am. Getting Raava tattooed on my back was because she appeared to me, and told me to go find my parents, that they still love me. That didn't just happen out of nowhere, you understand?"

Asami was kind of stunned at her girlfriend's outburst. "No, you're not making any sense."

The ex-callgirl sighed, and began picking at the top of one of her armbands. She hesitated to do it, but eventually slipped them off, one by one, and very slowly. She kept her wrists against her body but it gave Asami a look at what was underneath. Her right arm was bare, but the complex design of the four elements on her left continued, finally showing that water and earth were done with the same quality as fire and air on her upper arm. "This is what happened," she said, and finally turned her arms open, revealing them. This shocked the businesswoman badly.

On both arms, she had massive jagged scars, running halfway up her forearms. "Jesus Christ..." Asami muttered, taking one arm in her hand, gently running her fingers over the scarred flesh. "You did this to yourself?" she asked, finally putting the pieces together.

Korra very slowly nodded. "That's not the full story." She sighed again, and pulled her arm back, holding them close to her own chest. "When I was 19, I was with a client. He was nice enough, probably one of the better clients I had up until that point. Before we started, we had a few shots, he was polite, but then he fucked me just like all the others did. After he came and I didn't, of course, he just pointed to the table with my money on it, and then he fell straight asleep. Didn't even bother telling me to pull the door closed behind me. And I realized: that was the best I was ever going to get it. The best I could hope for was a guy twice my age who had the courtesy to give me a shot of whiskey before he fucked a teenage girl."

She paused for a moment to collect herself, and then continued. "He lived on the third floor of a modern apartment block, with those fancy high ceilings. I sat on his balcony for... I have no idea, gotta be something like an hour, drinking his whiskey, but then I did it."

"No..." Asami breathed, almost unwilling to face a very unpleasant reality.

"I jumped, Asami." Korra resolutely said. "I figured that a fall like that should have killed me no problem, but it didn't. I landed on a car that hadn't been there five minutes earlier, and I also landed legs first, the combination of which saved me. My legs and pelvis were shattered, and I also broke three vertebrae. They put so much metal in me, if you'd have put a magnet on my legs, it would have stuck," she chuckled, trying to relieve the tense atmosphere that had fallen between them.

Asami wanted to chuckle too, feel with Korra, but she couldn't. Not when her girlfriend was telling her a story this horrible, of what would be the darkest period of her life.

"Anyway, I was put on suicide watch, obviously, but that didn't help me much. I couldn't walk, and that asshole of a doctor said that the odds were I'd never walk again. Didn't really help someone who was very depressed, but he said only the truth would help me. I didn't tell him the truth that I still wanted to die. Didn't see the point anymore. Now of course, the ways to kill yourself are severly limited when you're on suicide watch, but necessity is the mother of invention. If found a loose metal plate on the underside of my wheelchair, and figured that if I wriggled it long enough, it would eventually pop off. Turns out I was right, and I used that piece of metal to do this to myself," Korra said, holding up her arms. "It wasn't sharp or neat, and that's why it scarred so badly. Hospital staff found me before I could bleed out though, stitched me back together, and put me on stricter watch. Plastic wheelchair, more forced therapy, everything."

It tore the businesswoman up something awful. At this point, she wanted to do nothing more than to wrap Korra in her arms, but she also knew that the ex-callgirl had to finish her story. "When did you realize that wasn't the way forward?"

"When I actually died," she said with morbid sense of irony.

"What?"

"Asami, I tried again a few weeks later. That doctor I had was an asshole, but more importantly than that, he was careless. I had sleeping medication, because my nightmares were so bad I would wake up the entire wing of the hospital with my screaming. And that fucking doctor... he left me alone with the bottle because he got a phonecall. Needless to say, it took me all of three seconds to clog back the entire bottle, and this time, I was actually successful. Sort of."

Asami got a questioning look on her face again. "You're not making sense again."

Korra gave her a 'fair enough'-nod and chuckled. "You're right. What happened was that I was clinically dead for about a minute. They had to drain my stomach, but some of it had already ended up in my blood, which was what did me in. This was when I saw Raava. And I know what you're going to say, it was just a drug-fueled delerium, and maybe you're right. Maybe it was all just between my ears, but that wasn't what it felt like. She was there, and she was beautiful. She was bathing in a white glow, but not a cold shade like that out of a fluorescent tube, it was warm, and welcoming. And her voice... clear and bright, melodious... Beautiful. She told me that no matter what, there was always someone out there who loved me, even if they were a thousand miles away, or even if I didn't know them yet. There would always be something to live for."

"And you believed her." Asami concluded.

"I did. The hospital staff gave me a kickstart, and brought me back to life. My doctor was sacked, and I instead got to do my recovery with Katara. I was her last patient, and she later took over the gym like I told you. But seeing Raava was what gave me my goal, and why I worked out that plan I told you about, why it's so important to me to get to my parents."

"And Unalaq made that hella difficult for you," Asami said.

"That he did."

The businesswoman sat down next to Korra, and took her hand, pressing a gentle kiss on it. "You still made it through, Korra. You're still here, which means you are stronger than everything that has been against you up to this point."

* * *

_And that really is it. I'm sorry I didn't finish the story properly, but at least now there is closure. I want to thank everyone who has left me reviews, the vast majority of them were really positive, and it was just really nice to read everything. You guys were awesome. I am gonna continue writing the other stories I mentioned earlier, so I hope to see you there as well. Also, the story isn't going anywhere, I will leave it all on here, but there won't be any more. Goodbye!_


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